A grey squirrel employed in the grounds maintenance sector has formally requested a shift to flexible working hours in order to fulfil what it describes as essential seasonal responsibilities, leaving its employer’s human resources department in what sources close to the matter have characterised as a state of quiet panic.
The squirrel, believed to be approximately three years old and currently working standard hours at Millbrook Business Park in Berkshire, submitted the request on Tuesday using the statutory form FW1, citing both the Employment Rights Act 1996 and, somewhat more surprisingly, the Equality Act 2010. The application requests permission to work compressed hours between May and August in order to free up additional time during September through November for what the form describes as ‘critical preparation activities of a biological nature’.
Jennifer Okafor, head of people operations at Greenspace Solutions Ltd, confirmed that the request had been received and was being treated with the appropriate level of seriousness, though she appeared tired when reached for comment.
We are of course committed to considering all flexible working requests in line with current legislation. The fact that this particular request comes from a squirrel does present some novel considerations, not least because we were not previously aware that we employed any squirrels at all.
The application, which runs to four pages including appendices, argues that the squirrel’s need to bury between four and six thousand nuts before the onset of winter constitutes a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. Legal experts have spent much of the week trying to determine whether ‘being a squirrel’ falls under the protected characteristic of species, which does not currently appear anywhere in equality legislation, or whether this might be more properly considered under philosophical belief.
Management’s attempts to offer a compromise arrangement involving a phased return to normal hours during winter months have reportedly been rejected on the grounds that the squirrel cannot reasonably be expected to remember where it buried anything and will therefore need to continue foraging throughout the cold weather period regardless.
David Marsh, an employment solicitor with fifteen years of experience advising on flexible working disputes, admitted he had never encountered a comparable case.
The difficulty here is that if the employer rejects this request, they need to demonstrate they have a legitimate business reason. But if they approve it, every other squirrel in the organisation, and there may be dozens we simply haven’t noticed, could submit identical requests. You can see how this creates a resourcing nightmare, particularly in the autumn.
The squirrel has reportedly indicated through its union representative, a rather shouty robin, that it would be prepared to take the matter to tribunal if necessary. HR has requested an additional four weeks to consider the application, which is two weeks longer than the statutory maximum, but nobody seems willing to tell them this.
Greenspace Solutions declined to comment on whether it has updated its equal opportunities monitoring form to include a question about species.
