Desk status confirmed by Employment Tribunal ruling

With firms asking employees to return to the office, squabbles over desk arrangements might become more common, and employers might want to consider a recent Employment Tribunal ruling on desk allocation.

A recent case involved an estate agent who resigned his role after being denied a ‘symbolically significant’ seat after viewing it as a demotion.

Nicholas  Walker was also a director at the estate agency firm where he worked and a branch manager.  He was asked to move to a different branch which he also managed.  When he was asked to move back to the original branch, he was upset when he was told to sit at a middle desk as opposed to a back desk which is where the branch manager typically sat.  It was also decided that Mr  Walker would share the role of branch manager with a more junior colleague which had not been discussed with him.

The desk position was symbolic at the branch as well as practical, as it had always been used by the branch manager, and it was where books and ledgers were kept.  The junior colleague had already moved to this desk before Mr  Walker returned to the branch.

The Employment  Tribunal said that being made to sit where junior staff work logically lead a senior employee to conclude they had been demoted.  Such a seating arrangement could destroy or seriously damage the worker’s relationship with employers and lead to a successful claim.

Compensation is still to be decided in this case however employers might want to review if they have any historic office and desk locations that are linked to an employee’s position and whether they need to give any consideration to this when asking them to move to a new location or desk.