Unpaid leave for a dependant

bella2121

No he's not in the union but I will mention it to him thanks for your reply

theoretica

My understanding of the legislation about emergency leave is that it is for when your child needs you - and this seems slightly different as the need was over, but the effects of sleeplessness remained. Perhaps work would have prefered a call to ask should I come in and not use the machines?

Undervalued

bella2121 wrote: »

All I'm saying is there are laws in place to protect working parents I thought this site was about knowing your rights??? I'll not ask again in future

Calm down!

You have been given some good advice here, even if it is not what you wanted to hear!

Your husband's employer is entitled to ask for proof, despite what you may have read. Look at it from their point of view. He, with virtually no notice, has told them that he is taking the day off. Yes, he is entitled to "short" (undefined) periods of unpaid leave for "emergency" (also undefined) situations with a dependant. Any employer is entitled to seek reasonable proof that his absence meets those conditions. Also, if he is not the only person his daughter is dependant on (and they presumably know she has a mother) the employer is entitled to expect that any such emergency leave is shared out equally between the two parents. There is an obvious temptation for the lower paid of the two parents to take the leave and that is unfair on one employer.

For reference, what you have been reading about sick leave relates only to the requirements for SSP. For any other reason, or if they reasonably suspect the sickness is faked, an employer is fully entitled to seek proof even within the first seven days.

Finally, to dismiss fairly in law an employer only needs a reasonable belief that misconduct has taken place. Providing that belief was reasonable at the time the dismissal would be fair even if it was subsequently proved to be wrong. Why give them the chance particularly if you know there are issues!

gettingtheresometime

Personally if I asked someone for proof of the illness and they got all stroppy then I'd wonder what the problem was with providing that proof.

Surely if they do have a vendetta against your OH, then why give them ammunition?

Hillbilly1

I think the employer is within their rights. If the child is well enough to be at home after an OOH consult then it's not an emergency. As another poster has stated also there was another carer from what you have written.

sheramber

bella2121 wrote: »

Dear me I was only asking if anyone knew legally as from what I have read in the gov website it was saying you don't have to provide anything in writing, my argument is if you as an employee was to call in sick the doctor wouldn't have give you 'proof' you were ill for 7 days so why should 'we' justify our child is ill

I thought this was a friendly site maybe I was wrong

You asked for people's thoughts and have been given them.

Where I worked we were allowed a total of 12 days uncertificated sick leave for the whole year.

If we exceeded that number of days we were required to provide a medical certificate for any more sick leave , even for one day off.

Fluffi

As others have pointed out, unpaid leave for dependants is about caring for said dependant until another carer can take over. E.g it enables a parent to collect their child from school if sick or had an accident. My understanding is it doesn't provide any provision for unpaid time off to catch up on sleep or for the carer to recover from said emergencies.

Strictly speaking in this case the emergency was over so the employer is within their right to deny unpaid leave for dependants altogether in my view.

However I agree its dangerous to work with machinery when overtired, presumably his workplace has something in place when people report for work saying they are too tired / had no sleep?

So I would have thought a sensible approach would have been to report for work (to show willing) saying "I've been up all night / only had 2 hrs sleep because of an emergency with my child, I don't think I can safely work with machines today, but what can I do instead?"

Then it would have been his employer's decision to a) send him home unpaid, b) send him home paid c) request he take annual leave d) give him some other work to do or e) something else.

DKLS

bella2121 wrote: »

Thanks I'll tell him to do this, I only posted for a bit of reassurance to what I know is correct I don't think if a person has been up all night with a sick child it is safe for them to go to work with heavy machinery it's dangerous I just think it's out of order if you rang in sick you don't need 'proof' so don't see why it needs to be justified when it's a one off fair enough if you were having time off weekly for appointments from an employee who has worked so hard for a company but at the end of the day family comes first

And at the end of the day for your husbands employer the business comes first so don't be surprised if they want want additional info to justify your husbands absence.

There seems to be a hint of drama llama about it all.

SeduLOUs

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Edited to add:- Surprising, to me anyway, I've just come across this https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/taking-time-off so it seems that anybody can claim an emergency and there is little the employer can do about it.

But if you click the left arrow on the page you've linked to the definition of an 'emergency' then it doesn't say anything about taking the day off because you're tired from a long night at the doctor.

If child had been ill and there was nobody else available to care for her, then it's a different matter.

OK, you don't have to prove it, so don't. But you'd certainly be required to demonstrate it was a valid 'emergency' to a tribunal if you brought a claim when the employer sacks OH for having too much time off.

shortcrust

Why not provide proof when asked? I really can't see the problem. When I read this board I constantly find myself thinking that running a business much be an absolute nightmare.