emergency/carers leave

Thriftylady

is there any legal entitlement to the above ? I'm talking about a short term, one off situation. I am pregnant, baby is due next week. Have had serious complications and will require surgery in a few weeks time. As my baby will only be a few weeks old, I really want him/her to be cared for by my husband rather than handing him/her over to a near stranger, (plus I will need some help myself when I get out of hospital) but I was wondering if my husband will have to treat this as holiday leave or if he is legally entitled to a few extra days? He is not taking any paternity leave as his employers only offer the £108/week government pay so had been going to use most of his annual leave around the time of the birth.

I know some employers do offer this sort of emergency carer leave (mine does), but I was wondering if anyone knows if its a legal obligation, or just something that is part of some companies benefits scheme?

seven-day-weekend

I used to work for a LA and they offererd both 'compassionate' and 'special' leave. I had special leave in the week my mum was dying, and compassionate leave to attend to the funeral.

I don't know whether it's a legal requirement though. Hopefully someone will come along who does!

seven-day-weekend

If your husband's employers don't offer this type of leave, maybe he could take some paternity leave after all?

Astaroth

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=865#14

It would appear it depends on how long he has been with the company

CIS

Threres no legal requirement to give you leave other than sick/maternity/paternit/annual leave.

I would guess that if the employer only pays the #108 parental leave rate then they are unlikely to pay for special leave.

aannee_2

hiya,

there is a stautory law for time off for dependants. The law states that you can take time off to care for a dependant in an emergency, such as breakdown in childcare or in your situation having to go into hospital. It does depend on how long your husband has worked for his company but as long as he's served the waiting period he can take time off to care for you. A dependant is not just children as some people think, it also covers partners or someone that lives with you who you would class as a dependant such as parents, in laws etc. bear in mind that this law is time off which you are not paid for, also it is there to only cover the initial emergency. if you can download a copy of the time off for dependants guide this should tell you what to do. if you type the title into google you should be able to come across this.

hope this helps

anne

nearlyrich

The law covers children under a certain age but as aannee says it's not paid, holidays or belated paternity leave is probably the best bet.

Thriftylady

thanks for all your replies.

I was already pretty certain that he would be unlikely to be paid for this type of leave if it were available, but at this stage we are sort of more concerned about him running out of annual leave to actually take. As one of the replies said, maybe he is just going to have to take some paternity leave after all. Gulp!! it will only be about one week but as I'll be down to basic maternity pay by then, its a daunting thought, but what can you do! no way round it.

he is actually a civil servant, and I would have thought that they would be exactly the place to offer this sort of thing, but he can't find any information on it at all.