To your original question... yes me
Normal hours 9am to 5pm with a half hour lunch break, 5 days per week. Ages and ages ago now I requested part time hours, preferably 3 days a week but I made myself as flexible as possible in being able to start/finish early or late, and even to suggest if 3 days not possible then maybe 4? But the answer has basically been no.
I am a little annoyed because I feel they did not reasonably give me the 'chance' to put my case forward as per details on the direct.gov website. The reason for this being that 4 weeks prior to my starting maternity leave I took on a different role which they said was to 'ease the pressure on me being pregnant and tired etc.' Also at this time my workload had dropped significantly. Not the exact words but along similar lines and you get the gist. It was never really made clear whether this new job was being designed for me (it was a new role created to ease workload off others), whether it was a temporary thing or what. Sounds silly but at the time I was so focused on preparing for lo's arrival I didn't think to ask, guess I though it would be sorted anyway nearer the time I was due back.
Anyway so a few weeks ago I rang my boss and asked if I could pop in for a chat and STUPIDLY I mentioned about possibly going part time. Well the meeting was arranged but the next day after he had obviously spoken to his manager, he basically said I would need to put my request in writing and only after that would they arrange a meeting with me, and this was the way they do it as part of company policy. So I said yes, of course I'd be happy to write a letter, but I was upfront about it and explained that as per the direct.gov website I need to explain my 'case' and justify my reasons and outline how it could benefit the business etc. But I questioned my boss and said this would be difficult for me to do because I really wasn't sure exactly what role was expected of me (because of the change in role prior to mat. leave) and therefore wouldn't be able to put a clear justification together anyway?! My managers response was quite cagey and he just said 'but the request is for your own personal reasons i.e. childcare so you need to put this in the letter' and then he just kept repeating himself telling me to put it all in writing. Not one for confrontation (albeit verbally) I agreed and duly wrote the letter and posted it a few days later.
Anyway cutting the rest of the story short we met 3 weeks ago, in response to my letter, where we had a formal 'chat' in an informal way, and they said the standard that they had considered my request and looked at ways the company could change to adapt to my request blah blah blah but sorry no, you need to come back to what was your original role with no flexibility on starting/finishing hours (something else I asked for if full time the only option). So that's it, end of, get over it, move on, no matter that your childcare fees will be £200 more a month than your take home pay, stick it!!! Sorry my rant is over now!!
I just feel that I've wasted weeks on end worrying about what they will say and I think they are doing everything to cover their backs legally but have they really done everything properly? I'm not sure and they have now written confirming their decision to reject my request, giving me 14 days in which to appeal. Is appealing really neccessary? DH thinks I should just go back full time and see how it goes which on the surface of it all I am 'totally fine' with but deep down I really am not, as you can probably tell! I'm so upset by the whole thing but I don"t think DH really understands, yet I need his support. Really not sure where I stand legally but my gut feeling is that I need to 'put up and shut up '
Thanks so much for this thread and terribly sorry for the very long post! Sorry I just ranted and didn't actually offer any advice
Xx