UK 
United States
In the midst of all the industrial turmoil in the runup to Christmas, the Government have announced new legislation that could be beneficial for millions of employees from day one of employment. Should we see this as a Christmas gift or not?
Just what is being proposed?
The Government’s proposal would drastically reduce the time period of current arrangements, where workers have to wait for twenty-six weeks of continuous service before they have the legal right to request flexible working arrangements, to essentially it being available as soon as you are employed. In addition, further changes proposed mean that two statutory requests could be made in any twelve-month period rather than one and that employers would legally have to respond to them within two months rather than three. The current requirement for the worker to explain the effect, if any, the change applied for would have on their work and how it may be dealt with is also being revoked, thus the onus of understanding the consequences is back with the employer.
There is no proposal to change the reasons why an employer can turn down such as request, these being:
It will cost too much
They cannot reorganise work among other staff
