Tribunals to rule on work days

Parents whose employers refuse to let them work part-time will be able to take their case to a tribunal, the Government announced today.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt set out the plans as a compromise between unions which wanted the legal right to work parttime and firms which said the move would be costly and bureaucratic.

The deal left both sides disappointed but will be welcomed by lawyers who will represent the two sides at an estimated 5,000 extra employment tribunals.

The British Chambers of Commerce said such a rise would be "disastrous". Ministers have admitted the increased number of tribunals is already hurting business but in September the Government dropped plans to charge workers £100 for a tribunal following complaints from unions.

From April 2003, any mother or father of a child under six can write to their employer requesting a change in their working hours. The firm must decide within six weeks.

If the answer is no, the employer must set out in writing the specific business reasons why it would be impossible to allow the time off. The employee can appeal, go to arbitration and finally go to a tribunal, which can force the firm to comply and award damages if procedures have not been followed correctly.

The concession has been labelled "flexible time" rather than "part-time" in a concession to employers.

Ms Hewitt told GMTV: "If the employer simply says 'I am not having any of this, I am not considering this', or if they do not give sensible, serious business reasons for turning you down, then of course you as the parent will be able to go off to the tribunal."

About 2.1 million fathers and 1.5 million mothers will be able to apply and ministers believe 500,000 may do so, with four in five requests granted voluntarily. They believe that only one per cent of cases will go to the final stage.

Ms Hewitt's ruling came in the Government's response to June's Work and Parents Taskforce report. Taskforce chairman Professor Sir George Bain said it was not an "automatic right" to part-time work, nor even flexible working, but was designed "to encourage employers to adopt and build on good practice. It would force them, in the sense that ultimately there is an appeal procedure. We think it will be used rarely".

Ms Hewitt said: "There are still too many old-fashioned businesses that operate as if men were the breadwinners and women the housewives. I believe these proposals will set in place legal standards that will revolutionise the culture of the workplace."

Today's announcement comes a day after a tribunal ruling that parents cannot be forced to work irregular shifts. Former police officer Michelle Chew won her case against Somerset Constabulary, whose working arrangements made it hard for her to arrange childcare.