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Employment tribunal cases relating to remote working were almost 11 per cent higher in 2024 than the year before – as businesses increasingly push employees to return to the office, reveals analysis of court records by HR consultants, Hamilton Nash.
Asda, Boots, Barclays, Dell and PricewaterhouseCoopers were among the companies that encouraged staff to work from the office more frequently last year.
Staff resistance to similar moves is shown in the growing number of employment tribunals citing terms like ‘remote working’.
Some 62 tribunals mentioned ‘remote working’ in 2024, an almost 11 per cent increase from the 56 cases the year before.
Prior to the pandemic, there were fewer than eight employment tribunals a year relating to remote working on average, but since 2020 the rate has soared to an average of 41 cases a year.
Graph: Employment tribunals citing ‘remote working’
Source: HM Courts & Tribunals Service
James Donnelly worked remotely at South Lanarkshire Council during Covid, but in 2022 the council required staff to return to the office one day a week. Despite occupational health doctors assessing Donnelly as fit for remote working only due to health conditions, the council insisted on office attendance.
A 2024 tribunal found the council had breached its duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 and had victimised Donnelly, and awarded him £16,376.82 in compensation, which included damages for injury to feelings and financial losses.
Jim Moore, employee relations expert at HR consultants Hamilton Nash, said: “Last year we saw a growing number of companies using increasingly authoritative methods to get their staff back to the office, despite the absence of any clear benefit to the businesses. Most of these conflicts didn’t get as far as the Employment Tribunal, and so the tribunal numbers are just the tip of the iceberg.
“The genie is out of the bottle, and many employees are reluctant to return to the wasted hours of commuting and diminished work-life balance.
“Businesses that force staff into the workplace against their will are likely to find that disputes escalate, resulting in an increasing turnover rate or costly legal remedies. A survey by the CIPD in January 2025 found that larger employers want employees to spend more time in the office.
“With most employees favouring a mix of office and home working, the battle for workers’ hearts and minds is going to be won by progressive employers who embrace hybrid working.
“Employees can resist returning to the office by filing flexible working requests. We’re expecting that more back-to-the-office mandates will result in more flexible working disputes ending up in tribunals.
“Labour’s Employment Rights Bill will require employers to explain why refusing a flexible working request is reasonable. Although the Bill is unlikely to become law before 2026, it will only continue the battle in employment tribunals. This is a war that doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon.”
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