A good idea

The Green Party has had one of its bills pulled out of the ballot today. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill is a Members bill from Sue Kedgley, and if passed, would guarantee that parents could work flexibly or part-time, without financial penalty, while their children are under five.

The Bill would give employees with young children the right to request reduced, part-time or flexible hours. Employers would have a legal duty to consider any such requests seriously, and must be able to demonstrate good reasons for a refusal.

Now, I could do with that bill now. Especially considering that I don't even have flexi- time, am unable to change my start - or finish - times, and much of my annual leave gets taken up with study block courses and exams - and the occasional looking after kids when required.

And of course I get sick, because of the work/study vs life/sleep balance is slanted towards work/study. So that increases the chances of using up the sick leave when the juice runs out….