Common use of Responding to the request Clause in Contracts

Responding to the request. a) The employer must give the employee a written response to the request within 21 days, stating whether the employer grants or refuses the request. b) The employer may refuse the request only on reasonable business grounds. c) Without limiting what are reasonable business grounds for the purposes of clause 22.3(b), reasonable business grounds include the following: i) that the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be too costly for the employer; ii) that there is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; iii) that it would be impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees, or recruit new employees, to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; iv) that the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity; v) that the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to have a significant negative impact on customer service. d) Before refusing a request, the employer must seek to confer with the employee and genuinely try to reach agreement on a change in working arrangements that will reasonably accommodate the employee’s circumstances having regard to: i) the nature of the employee’s responsibilities as a parent or carer; and ii) the consequences for the employee if changes in working arrangements are not made; and iii) any reasonable business grounds for refusing the request. e) What the written response must include if the employer refuses the request i) The written response under clause 22.3(a) must include details of the reasons for the refusal, including the business ground or grounds for the refusal and how the ground or grounds apply. ii) If the employer and employee agreed on a change in working arrangements under clause 22.3(d), the written response under clause 22.3(a) must set out the agreed change in working arrangements. iii) If the employer and employee could not agree on a change in working arrangements under clause 22.3(d), the written response under clause 22.3(a) must: • state whether or not there are there are any changes in working arrangements that the employer can offer the employee so as to better accommodate the employee’s responsibilities as a parent or carer; and • if the employer can offer the employee such changes in working arrangements, set out those changes to working arrangements.