Are people entitled to book unpaid leave to have teeth out

apples1

Our business holiday policy is 20 days plus 8 bank holidays. The 20 days are to be taken between 1st April & 31st Dec. We don't allow holiday in Jan - March as by far our busiest time.

Staff member has just received a letter with app in March to have wisdom teeth out. He asked for time off and said he may need up to a week (maybe more) but will see how he is.

It is a customer facing business so if we are short staffed customer service (and sales) are directly impacted. Having him come back early (or be off longer) is of no use as I have to book and pay for extra cover ahead of time (which isn't easy to do in our industry even with notice).

I have said that if he provides the app letter I will on this occasion allow him to book a week holiday. I have turned down hol requests before at this time of year (skiing being the main one!) so have said I am making an exception due to the reason for the request. I've also said that if we cannot cover the business due to sickness or any unforeseen exceptional circumstances nearer the time i will need to retract the holiday and ask him to rearrange the app.

He has come back saying he doesn't want to use up holiday but wants unpaid leave "as it's a medical issue". I don't have surplus "man" hours so don't want him to have an extra week off unpaid or otherwise. I need staff not cost saving. I thought I was being generous given we don't allow time off in 1st quarter! Do I have to agree to unpaid time off as well as annual holiday? No annual leave booked yet so nothing that would have to be cancelled for him.

yvonne13_2

OP what does you HR department say about the requested medical leave?

I can understand why he wants it unpaid as he's not using it for a holiday or can he make the hours up instead?

nearlyrich

You have to be joking I have had my wisdom teeth out trust me it is a real reason to be off sick, do you have to rearrange your illness to fit the needs of the buisness now? Unbelievable..........

Takeaway_Addict

I would say the appointment day should be taken as a holiday as its not a protected charateristic the reason he is going however the recovery time is sick pay (SSP or contractual)

Uncertain

The short answer is no.

There is no right as such to time off, paid or unpaid, for routine medical appointments.

Obviously though if the teeth were causing an immediate problem he could take sick leave until he was better.

As an employer you do have a duty of care. If you behave totally unreasonably and a medical problem results then, in theory, you could be liable.

getmore4less

Sounds like you should be looking at your staffing levels if something as simple as a week or two off is going to be a big problem.

You are very exposed to sicknes and leavers

easy

Hells bells, I thought Ebeneezer Scrooge had been reformed, but obviously not !!

I work with a number of small businesses, but find your attitude as an employer appalling .

I presume this employee has been waiting for this appointment to come through. In the modern NHS non of us can easily determine when we can get treatment, and I really think you should accept that your employees health and welfare should be at least as high a priority as your profit motive.
In your shoes, I would bite the bullet, accept that your staff member needs this treatment, arrange cover for his absence, and send him off to his operation wishing him well for a swift recovery. I would anticipate adhereing to standard sickpay procedures, just as if he had caught measles or broken an ankle. I might also send some small gift or flowers during his recovery period too.
But then I would want my employees to feel valued and appreciated, so that when I needed the extra mile out of them to cover some crisis they would give it willingly, and feel they had an interest in helping the business to succeed.

If I was treated as you want to treat this employee, I'd be looking for another job, and fast.

apples1

Blimey - I have said I am willingly offering the time off just that I don't want them to take a week unpaid leave given that they have 28 days unused fully paid holiday coming to them. If we could afford to have higher staff levels we would believe me.

apples1

yvonne13 wrote: »

OP what does you HR department say about the requested medical leave?

I can understand why he wants it unpaid as he's not using it for a holiday or can he make the hours up instead?

Making up the hours & taking it as holiday amount to the same thing. Holiday is paid, making up hours is paid.

DB_XIII

Whats the name of your company? I want to avoid you like the plague.

hcb42

the employee should go on sick - he is having an operation which has a recovery period. So he should be able to go sick, and sickness pay paid as per legislation for size of business.

I would hate to lose a week's holiday for a rotten operation too.