Employer not allowing time off for medical appointments. What's the gen?

dseventy

I will give my perspective as an employer.

If someone needs to attend the docs or dentists as a one off or for a check-up, I ask staff (and have a policy for it) to book it at the end/start/middle of the day to minimise the disruption at work.

Sometimes that is not possible and they need to leave work to do it. I ask for this to be notified to their manager so plans can be made to cover their work or anything critical also covered, but this time needs to be made up.

Most employees like flexibility, they like to be able to start late, finish early so they get a better work-life balance. I support and encourage this, but this means that it has to be a 2-way thing.

If they require a series of medical treatment that requires scheduled appointments (and the requirement to leave work)then the employee and the manager need to sit down and discuss how the time will be dealt with. This includes for pregnancy related issues and the DDA implications.

Whilst there is a entitledment for time for these, the operational issues of my company need to be addressed also. So it requires a sit down, calendar in hand and a discussion about how the time will be dealt with and what the employee and employer need to do to facilitate the treatment.

I want to support my employees, we all get ill, need the dentist etc, but all it usually takes is a adult conversation rather than a table banging session on "rights".

D70

bluenoseam

Hate to say this dseventy, it doesn't always work like that! (sit down, calendar in hand) I know when i went through treatment it was pretty much a case of we had a situation where one part of my treatment was brought forward (instead of starting in the 3rd week of march, it was moved to early february - although nothing to worry about) and there were secondary elements which had to be sorted prior to treatment starting. I do however wholeheartedly agree with the fact that it requires a series of discussions as opposed to marching into a managers office and saying "i have the doctors at 2.15pm - you need to give me time off for it!", a bit of give & take works best, wise employers know that the preferred option (taking the appt. at the end or start of a working day) doesn't always work and will work with the employee to ensure both the needs of the business & employee are taken care of.

Speaking from the perspective of clinics these are where problems arise, these are often set days & times, particularly in general hospitals, so you're essentially told for example your clinic runs from 1-5pm on X day of the week and they have something silly like 50 people they need to see on any given clinic - so you basically have to take what you're given as the "work friendly" slots tend to fill up quickly! What's worse is if you have several clinics to attend (as i do) which every so often unavoidably throw up two visits to two different facilities on consecutive days - i understand how much of a nightmare that is for employers to deal with!

Fortunately i'm someone who will do my best to give as much notice as possible and work in an area where i can be covered for a day by a colleague - and seem to have found a boss willing to understand that work is secondary to long term health, unfortunately not all employers/managers are as understanding and some employees are far too demanding for the situation to be workable.

Mara69

I work for a local authority. We are given are allowed to leave at whatever time for hospital appointments with no penalty but have to take dental/Doctor appointments out of our flexi leave. The logic behind this is that hospital appointments are pre-booked and we (the staff) have no control over them. However, we can book our dental and Doctor appointments at a time to suit.

prowla

I once worked at a place where we used to put in extra hours, do out of hours work as required and so-on, mostly off our own back to ensure things were all working.
One of my colleagues had a medical appointment and our boss told him he had to take a half day.
From then on he eased out of doing the bit extra, and left not long after.
I broke my toe and sent an email saying I would not be able to make it in and would work from home that day to ensure no time was lost, and would try and make it in next day; I received a reply saying all work from home had to be pre-approved.
Similarly, I "lost interest" in the work, and it wasn't long after that I left.

patman99

Think I would not mention the appointment, but instead, go home 'sick, with a screaming toothache'

davemc69

I am lucky, my employer allows me time to attend all my medical apps. as it does all its 15,000+ staff. I was also told by my dentist a long time ago, that my employer couldn't stop me making an app. in work time, and every employer I've ever had has paid me when I have had apps. I work in an industry where injuries are very common. Lifting people causes many back problems, joint problems, a lot of stress and mental health issues. It is also an industry where a lot of staff are assaulted on a regular basis. A number of staff are killed each year by the service user group they look after as well. I could probably go on, but won't.

SarEl

davemc69 wrote: »

I am lucky, my employer allows me time to attend all my medical apps. as it does all its 15,000+ staff. I was also told by my dentist a long time ago, that my employer couldn't stop me making an app. in work time, and every employer I've ever had has paid me when I have had apps. I work in an industry where injuries are very common. Lifting people causes many back problems, joint problems, a lot of stress and mental health issues. It is also an industry where a lot of staff are assaulted on a regular basis. A number of staff are killed each year by the service user group they look after as well. I could probably go on, but won't.

I am not sure what this contributes to a year old thread. But it is excellent news that most dentists do teeth and not employment law - since your dentist is wrong about the employment law bit. Hope he or she is a better dentist...

Acc72

I would just like to add another question to this :

Legally, you do not have to give time off (paid or otherwise) for appointments.

If employee A is given time off with pay and employee B (in the same department) is told to use a half day holiday, is there anything legally wrong with this ?

(Ps - using a routine dental appointment as an example - nothing serious).

SarEl

Not unless there is something else legally wrong with it - such as unlawful discrimination. Nothing wrong with terating people differently per se.

j.e.j.

I think the best way might be to simply book the day or half day as annual leave. That way you shouldn't have to field off aggressive questions from your work about your 'need' for a doctors/dentist appointment during work time, or go into medical detail which might be of a sensitive nature with your work/manager!