Tech employee loses sex discrimination case after suing bosses when he was banned from working from home to help care for his twins

A tech specialist who tried to sue his bosses after he was banned from working from home to help care for his twin boys has had his case thrown out.

Paul Macdonald told a hearing in Scotland he had requested flexible working arrangements so he could assist his wife with childcare.

He told his bosses at the Scottish office of international IT business Computershare if he would not be able to help his wife with the school run and other domestic chores at their home in Glasgow.

Now, an employment tribunal has ruled that Mr Macdonald’s requests to work from home were rejected legitimately because of the "detrimental impact on quality" working from home would entail.

The hearing heard how Mr Macdonald started working at the company in 2022 and he was still employed at the business, where his role involved dealing with "high-priority and time-critical IT incidents".

He was based at the company’s Edinburgh office, where he would be required to work for hours without a break during serious IT failures.

Mr Macdonald told the hearing, while his normal working week was 37.5 hours, his commute from Glasgow to Edinburgh took two hours each way on the train.

Following the full lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, the company’s Chief Executive ordered staff to return to the office for at least two days a week.

However, Mr Macdonald made a request to be allowed to work from home permanently, writing to managers at the time: "It is becoming increasingly difficult to commit to getting in, even with the low expectation of in-office time.

"It is becoming increasingly difficult to commit to getting in, even with the low expectation of in-office time...This is a result of the care responsibilities of my twins."

Bosses refused his initial request, however he applied again for permanent home-working around a year later after the company increased its office-working requirement to three days a week.

He told his bosses: "Due to my caregiving responsibilities for my twins, who are neurodiverse, it has become increasingly challenging to meet the current expectations for in-office time."

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He told bosses that when he was in the office “I am unable to assist my wife with the school run, which I usually do during my allocated break time.

"Furthermore, I am concerned about the difficulty of returning home promptly in case of emergencies or issues requiring medical attention or last-minute appointments for the boys."

Mr Macdonald said that home-working would allow him to "help out" his wife by looking after the children "for five minutes during coffee breaks".

He added that he was also worried about her having a "rough day" while he was away.

However, the case was thrown out by the judge, Jacqueline McCluskey.

She told the hearing Mr Macdonald would only have been able to assist his wife briefly and sporadically, had the request had been granted.

She said that the tribunal "was not satisfied that intervening for a few minutes, when he could, amounted to childcare obligations".