Enough is Enough! Are you being too soft with your team members?

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Well enough is enough when it comes to allowing you staff to tell you when they can work…

Far too many employers report that they feel they have to approve unpaid leave when an employee approaches them regardless of whether it suits the needs of the nursery or whether they can cover the absence.

You do have the right to expect that someone will work the hours in their contract of employment, and if they can’t that they will come to you and explain what the problem is rather than tell you that you are to not have them in work.

An example of this would be

“Oh by the way Betty, I’m not working Wednesday as I have no childcare so will need to take the day off as a parental leave, as I have used all of my annual leave days’, thanks”. 

 

Well Enough is Enough!

As an employer you have the right to refuse unpaid leave, if as a employer you cannot accommodate it.  Don’t feel that because an employee says it childcare related you cannot decline the request if the needs of the business mean that you cannot approve it.

Remember Parental Leave comes with rules!

As an employer you need to be aware of the Parental Leave entitlement. If you’ve not got a policy you can get one here

 

• Employees must give 21 days’ notice before their intended start date of leave.
• Parental leave is unpaid. Employees are entitled to 18 weeks’ leave for each child and adopted child, up to their 18th birthday.
• The limit on how much parental leave each parent can take in a year is 4 weeks for each child (unless the employer agrees otherwise).
• You must take parental leave as whole weeks (eg 1 week or 2 weeks) rather than individual days, unless your employer agrees otherwise or if your child is disabled. You don’t have to take all the leave at once.
• A ‘week’ equals the length of time an employee normally works over 7 days.

An emergency won’t be because you have no childcare next Wednesday. It will be because the plans you put in place fall through that morning.In cases of emergency leave where an employee’s child is unwell then of course as a parent their priority is to be at home to care for them.  We get that. To remain off to care for the child may not fall under the reasonable time off for family emergency legislation. An employer may take issue with the amount of absence an employee is having and need to address it with them.If you need any assistance with any aspect of managing your team, give us a call on 01527 909436.