Being told to take annual leave for a dental appointment?

Mrs_Money

Hope someone can help - my son has been told by one of the management team at the place he works, that he must organise his dental appointment on a Saturday or take annual leave - he is never off work for any reason - can they do this under employment law - can anyone give me a link to any info?
We may need to prove to them that they can't do this (if indeed that is the case). Already googled it, no luck - Acas site doesn't have anything either.
Thanks -any info appreciated.

nimagraven

I think they can, but I'm not totally sure. Can he not negotiate to make the time up that he's losing or is it a big job he's having done?

scppbysti

as its pre planned appointment it should be made outside of work hours, ibelieve it would be different if it was emergency appointment

Oldernotwiser

Just like doctors' appointment; in your own time or take leave.

olias

AFAIK there is no right to time off for any kind of appointment (medical/dental etc) unless possibly the appointment was linked to a disibility and/or the employer knew about the possibility of missed time for appointments and agreed to it when the employee was taken on. Look at it this way, why should the employer pay for a worker when they are not there working? Get your son to take a look at his contract and it should clarify what the employers official stance is on medical/dental appointments.

I agree with the previous post, In your sons shoes I would try to negotiate staying late/working through lunch or something similar in order to avoid losing a days holiday.

Olias

Mikeyorks

Mrs_Money wrote: »

We may need to prove to them that they can't do this.

Good luck! They're paying him to work. Going to the Doctor / Dentist / hairdresser / walking the dog .... is down to him to organise in the 128 hours per week he has off - as opposed to the 40 he works!

Even my dentist, which is not the most amenable of practices, runs one late surgery per week + Sat morning ...... and restricts access to working people.

bristol_pilot

Completely normal standard practice.

irishjohn

I was a bit gob smacked when i joined the public sector after 30 years in the private sector and found you got time off for such things as doctor's and dentist's appointment - Some folks take advantage to the max with this!!

Mrs_Money

Well, thanks for your replies everyone - I must have been very lucky then, that in 40 years of working I have never been asked to take my dentist's/doctor's appointments as annual leave - neither have I ever had to make up the time!
Like my son, I have mostly worked for local government, primary care trusts, education establishments- they must just be tightening up on these things now.

BTW - I wasn't suggesting that this was a given right - by the tone of some of the replies people seem to indicate that my inquiry was somewhat unreasonable!

edit: - yes, IrishJohn, exactly - we are in the public sector! But it seems, in my son's case at least, even they are changing their policies!

Primrose

I worked in the private sector and it was normally the rule that any routine medical or dentist appointments had to be taken in your own time. However, managers did have discretion and those staff who had good attendance records and were conscientious were generally allowed some leeway to take these appointments in office time on the assumption that they would work through lunch hours/come in early/stay late to make up the time. And I must say that very few people abused the system and did make up the time in some way or other.

BrownGirl

irishjohn wrote: »

I was a bit gob smacked when i joined the public sector after 30 years in the private sector and found you got time off for such things as doctor's and dentist's appointment - Some folks take advantage to the max with this!!

I work in the public sector and we don't get time off for Drs/dentists etc. Didn't when I worked in private sector either.