The Union recognises that there may be times when employees need to take time off work for a range of personal reasons incuding domestic emergencies, public duties and caring for children or dependents.
Parental Leave
Dependants Leave
Time off for Medical Appointments
Compassionate Leave
Career Breaks
First Day at School
Time off for public duties
Jury Service
Religious observance
Unauthorised absence
Parental Leave
Employees who satisfy certain eligibility requirements are entitled to take parental leave in order to care for a child. We set out below a summary of the eligibility requirements for this right and how you should go about making such a request. Please note that from time to time changes are made to the statutory right and any such changes will apply to you regardless of whether or not this summary is updated to reflect those changes. If you have any questions arising from this policy, please contact HR.
Eligibility
As long as you comply with the notification requirements set out below, you will be entitled to take parental leave if: ?
- you have worked for the company continuously for at least twelve months; ?
- you have or expect to have responsibility for the upbringing of a child; and ?
- you are taking the leave to spend time with or otherwise care for the child. ?
- If you have not completed one year’s service when your child is born or adopted, your entitlement to take parental leave will commence as soon as you have been with the Union for one year. ?
- For these purposes, you have responsibility for a child if you:
- are the child's biological mother or father (whether or not you are living with the child);
- are the child's adoptive parent; or
- otherwise have legal parental responsibility for the child, for example, if you are the child's guardian, or a step-parent who has a parental responsibility agreement or parental responsibility order.
Entitlement
You are entitled to take up to eighteen weeks' parental leave before the child's 18th birthday. The entitlement is per child not per birth so, for example, in the case of twins the parents would each be entitled to take up to 26 weeks' parental leave before the twins' 18th birthday. This leave must be taken in blocks of one week. However, if your child is disabled the leave can be taken in single or multiple days. For the purposes of this policy, a disabled child means a child who is eligible for disability living allowance, armed forces independence allowance, or personal independence payment. You may not take parental leave by reducing your working hours each day.
You can take up to a maximum of 4 weeks' leave per year. Each year for these purposes will run from the anniversary of your attaining one year's service with the Union.
Leave must be taken to care for the child. This means looking after the welfare of a child and can include making arrangements for the good of a child.
Any parental leave taken while working for another employer counts towards the 18-week entitlement. If you have taken parental leave during previous or concurrent employment, you should provide details to HR.
The Union will keep a record of all parental leave absence. If you leave the Union, we will pass this information on to your new employer.
Notification
You must give the Union a minimum of 21 days' notice before the date on which you want the leave period to begin.
You must specify the reason for leave and the dates on which you want the period of leave to begin and end.
If you are a father and want your parental leave to begin on the date of the birth of your child, then the notice must specify the expected week of childbirth and the duration of leave you wish to take. Provided that notice is given at least 21 days before the expected week of childbirth, then you may start your leave as soon as the baby is actually born, even if this is earlier or later than expected.
Where you wish parental leave to begin on the date of placement of adoption of your child then the notice must specify the week when the placement is expected to occur. The notice must be given at least 21 days before the expected week of placement or if that is not reasonably practicable, as soon as is reasonably practicable.
If you wish to take a period of parental leave immediately after a period of ordinary paternity leave, it would be helpful if you could give your line manager notice of that intention at least 21 days before the start of the expected week of childbirth (or expected week of placement, if applicable). If this is not possible, you should give as much notice as you can. If you do not give notice at least seven days before your period of ordinary paternity leave starts, we might not allow you to take the period of parental leave requested. However, we shall consider each case on its merits.
Postponement
The Union may postpone a period of parental leave if the business would be substantially disrupted by your absence during the requested period, except where you are taking leave for the birth or adoption of a child. If we postpone your request for parental leave, we will agree an alternative period of leave, which will be the same length and will begin no later than six months after the start date of the leave you originally requested.
We will give written notice of any such postponement, which will state the reasons for the postponement and specify the alternative leave period dates we have agreed with you.
If we wish to postpone your leave we will notify you of that fact no more than seven days after your request to take parental leave was made to us.
We will not postpone parental leave if the postponement would result in the leave being taken after the child's 18th birthday.
Evidence of entitlement
We may ask you to produce documentary evidence of your entitlement to take parental leave including (but not limited to) a copy of a MAT B1 Form, Birth Certificate, Adoption papers, entitlement to Disability Living Allowance etc.
Application of terms and conditions of employment
Parental Leave will be unpaid. During a period of Parental Leave, you are entitled to the benefits of the terms contained in your Contract of Employment relating to:
- notice of termination;
- compensation for redundancy;
- disciplinary and grievance procedures.
During a period of Parental Leave, you will continue to be bound by your obligation of good faith to the Union and any contractual terms and conditions relating to:
- notice of resignation;
- confidentiality;
- acceptance of gifts or other benefits;
- participation in any other business.
Holiday
Only your statutory holiday entitlement will accrue during any period of parental leave.
Right to return to work
If you take parental leave of 4 weeks or less you are entitled to return to the same job. If you take parental leave immediately after Additional Maternity Leave or Additional Adoption Leave, there may be situations where it is not reasonably practicable for you to return to the same job. In these circumstances, the Union has a responsibility to offer you a similar job, which preserves your salary and seniority/pension rights, if such a position is available. In such cases, you should seek advice from HR.
Dependants Leave
We recognise that, if an emergency occurs involving someone who depends on you, you may wish to take unpaid time off work in order to deal with the emergency. We set out below a summary of the eligibility requirements for this right and how you should go about taking time off. Please note that from time to time changes are made to the statutory right and any such changes will apply to you regardless of whether or not this summary is updated to reflect those changes.
The Students’ Union seeks to support staff to have a positive work/life balance and recognises that caring for others in an emergency situation may also be stressful for an employee. There is no statutory right to be paid for time off for dependents the Students’ Union will usually pay staff for one day for each new instance of dependants leave needed. It should be noted that this is discretionary and the Union reserves the right to resort to statutory unpaid dependents leave if it is felt that staff are abusing dependants leave or being dishonest.
If you have any questions arising from this policy, please contact HR.
Your husband, wife or partner, child or parent, or someone living with you as part of your family can all be considered as dependants. Others who rely solely on you for help in an emergency may also qualify.
Emergencies
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 disruption or breakdown in care, such as a childminder or nurse failing to turn up;
- goes into labour.
You can also take time off if a dependent dies and you need to make funeral arrangements or to attend the funeral.
Entitlement
We will allow you to take reasonable time off to deal with an immediate emergency which, in the majority of cases, will be no more than one or two days. For example, if your child falls ill you can take enough time off to deal with their initial needs, such as taking them to the doctor and arranging for their care but you will need to make other arrangements if you want to stay off work longer to care for them yourself.
If you wish to take time off work in order to deal with an emergency, you must inform your Manager as soon as possible why you need to be away from work and how long you expect to be off. Your Manager will decide whether or not to authorise time off and how many days' leave is appropriate. If you return to work before you have had the opportunity to contact the Union, you must still inform your Manager why you were absent.
If you fail to notify us as set out above, you may be subject to disciplinary proceedings under our Disciplinary Procedure for taking unauthorised time off.
We may in some cases ask you to provide evidence for your reasons for taking the time off, either in advance or on your return to work. Suspected abuse of this policy will be dealt with as a disciplinary issue under our Disciplinary Procedure.
Time off for Medical Appointments (non-pregnancy related)
The Union recognises that it is difficult for employees to arrange medical appointments and check-ups outside of working hours. Time off for medical appointments in work time should be approved in advance with your line Manager and agreed in accordance with the annual leave or flexi-time procedures. Permission will not normally be withheld.
Time will not normally have to be made up for medical appointments, emergency treatment or specialist appointments that cannot be made outside of working hours and full payment will normally be given. Employees may be asked to show verification of such appointments.
Compassionate Leave
The Union wishes to support staff who may need time off for compassionate leave. When such an emergency occurs, employees must inform their line manager as soon as possible. The Union will treat such cases sympathetically but asks that you keep in touch with your line manager and agree the amount of time to be taken away from work. Payment will be at the discretion of the Union.
Compassionate leave will normally be for a period of up to 5 days dependent upon the closeness of the relationship with the deceased, whether the employee has funeral arrangement responsibility and the location of the funeral etc.
Compassionate leave whose nature or duration falls outside these guidelines must be approved by the CEO.
Career Breaks
A career break enables you to leave your employment on a temporary basis for a period of twelve months unpaid leave. To make an application to take a career break you must be a permanent member of staff with three years’ service. Career breaks can be requested for reasons such as caring for dependants, to re-enter full time education or travel.
For a career break to be established the following will need to be considered by you and your Line Manager in consultation with the CEO.
- The reasons for the request for a break must be reasonable and justifiable
- Is a career break the most appropriate option to cope with the change in personal circumstances
- Is the department able to provide cover for the post or will a temporary member of staff need to be recruited
- During the break the member of staff will retain their rights under the Employment Protection Act
- During the period of absence the member of staff must be kept informed of changes, professional development opportunities or vacancies that arise.
- In order to secure the benefits of the career break the member of staff must not undertake any alternative paid work for another employer
- The member of staff will need to inform the Head of Service of any change in circumstances relevant to the career break
- The member of staff must give two months confirmation in writing of their expected return to work
- Providing the requirements of the career break have been met the member of staff will be ensured employment in a similar role of the same grade
First Day at School
The first day at school can be an exciting, emotional, intense or possibly distressing day for both the child and the parents. Parents whose working hours would normally prohibit them for being with their child at this time are entitled to take up to three hours paid leave which can be used on the morning or afternoon (or divided between both) of their child’s first day at primary school to enable drop off, pick up or both if divided. In order to take this leave you must give your Line Manager a minimum of four weeks’ notice of the date so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
Time off for Public Duties
The Union is required to give employees reasonable time off work for public duties if they are one of the following: ?
- Magistrate
- Local Councillor
- School governor
- Member of a police authority or special constable
- Member of any statutory tribunal (e.g. an employment tribunal)
- Member of the managing or governing body of an educational establishment
- Member of the General Teaching Council for England and Wales
- Member of the Environment Agency
- Member of the prison independent monitoring boards
- Member of a Water Customer Consultation Panel
- Trade Union Rep
Employees are allowed reasonable time off to attend meetings or carry out duties but this time must be agreed in advance with your line manager. The Union can refuse a request if is deemed unreasonable. This is dependent on: ?
- What the duties are
- The time needed to carry them out
- The impact on the needs of the business
- Time already taken for public or trade union duties
Payment for time off for public duties is at the discretion of the Union.
Jury Service
The Union will allow time off for jury service but may ask an employee to apply to defer or excuse your jury service if their absence is likely to have a serious impact on the business at that time.
Payment for time off for jury service will be at the discretion of the Union. You should, however, be able to claim expenses, travel and loss of earnings from the court.
Religious Observance
If an employee needs time off for a principle religious holiday for their faith, wherever possible the Union will rearrange your working week to allow them to take appropriate time off, utilising their holiday entitlement. Faith facilities are also available on campus.
Unauthorised absence
All absences will be recorded and monitored. Failure to follow this procedure, without good reason, will be regarded as unauthorised absence and, therefore, the Disciplinary Procedure will apply.
The Union reserves the right to deduct equivalent pay for unauthorised absence. If an employee feels that any request for time off has been refused unreasonably, they should refer to the Grievance Procedure.