"Emergency Dependant's Leave"

HurdyGurdy

Not sure if that's what it's called, but no doubt someone will put me right


Is this a universal thing that parents can use, or does it have to be specifically written into an employee's contract.


Situation is: parents are no longer together. Mother (who doesn't work) is taken into hospital - unexpectedly, not a planned stay. Her family are unable to care for the child. The father is asked (told!) he has to care for the child for a day or two, until mother is discharged from hospital. The father works full time, and works shifts.

Is the father entitled to take "emergency dependent's leave" to care for the child? He has no family in the area to call on for help.

Uncertain

Yes, universal.

Yes, the father can take short periods unpaid leave.

However, the normal interpretation is that the leave is in order to deal with an emergency and make arrangements for care, not to do the caring himself for anything other than a very short period of time.

Some employers may be quite happy to go further than this but the legal right is fairly limited.

HurdyGurdy

Thank you Uncertain.

So, given that the mother has not got available family to care for the child, and clearly cannot care for her herself, and that the father has no family living in the area (he lives near London, his family live in North Wales) - what kind of care could he realistically be expected to put in place? Could he be sacked for taking the time off to care for the child until the mother is able to resume caring for her?

SarEl

Agreed. Lack of family is not a consideration. The entitlement is to arrange for care. If the employer allows more, great, but I suspect if they did then the OP wouldn't be asking! It is also unpaid.

Child minder? Helpful neighbours? Friends wife/ partner?

Uncertain

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

Could he be sacked for taking the time off to care for the child until the mother is able to resume caring for her?

For a day or two, most unlikely. Medium to long term, quite possibly.

The law doesn't define "short" or "emergency" so ultimately it would come down to what a tribunal considered reasonable.

Although many employers would be very understanding ultimately an employee's family situation is not their problem.

heretolearn_2

As stated above, it's really only for the initial emergency, and a day or two is considered 'reasonable' and parents are expected to make other arrangements for care after that.
It's a grey area over exactly how long though.
see:
https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

HurdyGurdy

Thank you SarEl (edited to add - and others who replied whilst I was typing this reply)

Given that the family have so far not had a need for a childminder (do childminders take a new child immediately, without interviews/contracts and settling in periods?? - just musing, not actually asking!) and the only friends that the father can call on also work full time (don't know the neighbours well enough to trust them), I am wondering how much "give" there can realistically be from an employer.

It is hard to try and marry the needs of both parties together. Clearly the needs of the child are a priority to the parents (under 2 years old in this case) but the needs of the business are a priority to the employer.

SarEl

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

Thank you Uncertain.

So, given that the mother has not got available family to care for the child, and clearly cannot care for her herself, and that the father has no family living in the area (he lives near London, his family live in North Wales) - what kind of care could he realistically be expected to put in place? Could he be sacked for taking the time off to care for the child until the mother is able to resume caring for her?

The relevant question here is - do your employers actually think this is a problem? If so, what are they saying?

SarEl

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

It is hard to try and marry the needs of both parties together. Clearly the needs of the child are a priority to the parents (under 2 years old in this case) but the needs of the business are a priority to the employer.

Yes, exactly. So does the employer say it is a problem?

HurdyGurdy

I am the grandparent of the child in this case, and the father didn't ask his employer for the time off. He made his own arrangements, which the child's mother is not happy about. She feels he should have taken the time off to care for the child, but he said that he doesn't have emergency dependent's leave written into his contract, so couldn't.

I can see both sides in this case.

Sambucus_Nigra

HurdyGurdy wrote: »

I am the grandparent of the child in this case, and the father didn't ask his employer for the time off. He made his own arrangements, which the child's mother is not happy about. She feels he should have taken the time off to care for the child, but he said that he doesn't have emergency dependent's leave written into his contract, so couldn't.

I can see both sides in this case.

Well, he knows his employers best.

Although it is universal, if he can make the arrangements without disrupting his working day and inconvenience the employer, then everyone is happy.