A civil service arbitration baord has ruled on a disagreement between Fórsa and management on how the accrual of flexitime for those with blended work arrangements should be piloted.

Management argued that departments and offices should be able to choose from four different ways to pilot flexitime arrangements, including one option where no flexitime accrual was allowed and another where accrual was limited to one day of flexi-leave rather than the standard 1.5 days.

But the arbitration board ruled that departments and offices should be able to opt for one of only two approaches. One will pilot flexitime accrual for all employees in eligible grades, irrespective of work location. The other will pilot accrual only when staff are working in the office.

Since the outset of the pandemic, civil servants have been unable to accrue flexitime while working remotely. But Fórsa and other unions argued that flexitime accrual should now be available to staff with remote work arrangements under a new blended work framework launched earlier this month.

Under the new framework, agreed between Fórsa and the Department of Public Expenditure and reform (DPER), all civil servants will have the right to apply for remote or blended working. If refused, they will be able to appeal.

The arbitration board, which issued its report earlier this week, said a management proposal that some departments could pilot on the basis that staff with blended work arrangements should have no flexitime accrual “would not offer any additional insights…given that it is the current situation.”

It said there was no value in a pilot that permitted only one day of flexi accrual as this “has been well rehearsed in recent years.”

The board noted that both management and unions favoured “the restoration of as comprehensive an approach to flexitime as possible.”

It added that flexi accrual pilots should operate in all applicable work locations over the coming months, and be concluded by 31st December 2022.

Read the agreed civil service blended work framework HERE.