Your contract of employment will contain details about your work hours, holiday quota and the terms of your sick pay, along with statutory employment rights. Paid leave is available to most employees for reasons such as: responsibilities of a union official; health and safety rep responsibilities for a trade union; looking for a job during a redundancy consultation period; care for expectant mothers; leave for new fathers; leave when adopting a child and parental reasons that may require flexible hours.
There are many circumstances in which employees have the right to take unpaid leave. These include: participation in union related events; to fulfil public responsibilities as a justice of the peace, councillor, governor of education and to take care of their children. Upon completing a year of service for an employer, you are granted the right to unpaid leave if you become a parent. Your 13 weeks of leave can be taken any time before the child is 5. If you have a disabled child, this becomes 18 weeks which can be taken any time before the child is 18.
Should a problem or unexpected obstacle arise with a dependant, you are allowed to take the time to deal with it. This could be an issue with a child minder for example. Anyone who is reasonably reliant upon you is classed as a dependant.
Your rights as an employee and any queries about problems relating to these rights should be discussed with a qualified adviser. The Citizens Advice Bureau can help in these matters.
If you work in England, Scotland or Wales, you have the right to request leave for training. However, it is not a legal requirement of your employer to grant this leave, and if they do, they may choose to not pay you for it.
When you have been in employment for over 26 weeks, you attain the right to request time off for training. It is also a requirement that the company in which you work has more than 250 employees. Paid study leave is not a legal right.
You may wish to improve your performance and efficiency at work through training, you have the right to request leave for this. Perhaps you are hoping to achieve a qualification or increase your work related skill levels. You can request an unlimited amount of time off to train.
If you have a child or children under 17 (18 if they are disabled) or you are an adult carer, it is your right to request flexitime. This is as long as you have completed 26 weeks service for your employer. You may request to work part time, work from home, fit your hours around school times, job share, work flexible hours, work shifts, work staggered hours or compress your contracted hours into a shorter timeframe. Your right is to ask, but your employer isn’t obliged to grant your requests. Refusal must however come with a good reason, and your request must be considered seriously. To be considered for flexible hours due to parental reasons, you must have a daily responsibility to the child.
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