Parental and Dependency Leave
Parental
Leave :
Employees are entitled to time off for parental leave, and to time off to deal
with
family emergencies. In both cases the leave is
unpaid.
Working parents have the legal right to a period of unpaid leave of up to four
(4)
weeks in a year and overall no more than thirteen (13) weeks within the first
five
(5) years of their child's life.
For adopted children the leave is available in the five (5) years from the time
of
adoption, provided that the child is still under the age of eighteen (18).
If the child is entitled to disability living allowance, up to eighteen (18)
weeks
unpaid leave in total, can be taken up the the child's 18th birthday.
- Parental Leave is available to parents who have worked for their employer for
at least a year.
- Leave must be taken in blocks of no less than one (1) week.
- The right applies to both parents, and for each child.
- Notice of twenty-one (21) days must be given.
When taking the leave would cause undue disruption to the business, the employer
can make the employee postpone the leave for a period of up to six (6) months,
except in the case of leave immediately after the child's birth.
Dependency Leave:
Leave for urgent family reasons (dependency leave) gives employees the right to
reasonable time off to deal with family emergencies involving parents, children,
spouse, or anyone who looks to the employee for assistance.
An emergency is when someone who depends on you:
- Is ill and needs your help.
- Is involved in an accident or assaulted.
- Needs you to arrange their longer term care.
- Needs you to deal with an unexpected breakdown in care, such as a childminder
or nurse failing to turn up.
- Goes into labour.
- Or there are serious problems at a child's school.
You must tell your employer as soon as possible why you are away from work and
how long you expect to be off. The amount of leave is what is 'reasonable
in the
circumstances', and is likely to involve relatively short amounts of time
allowing for
the immediate emergency to be dealt with.
An employee who requests time off for urgent domestic reasons may be asked to
provide sufficient information for their employer to know that the leave is for
this
purpose.
If you require further information on any rights for working parents contact
your
site representative, or call your Unity officer on 01782 272755.