Compasionate Leave

KILL_BILL

Compasionate leave - does this only cover death in the family or something very similar

What about if a family memeber is ill in hospital - they are not on a life support machine but they have a condition which leaves them in a
dihabilitng condition.

the company have said that as they(sick person) are not at deaths door then their family member have compasionate leave to see their sick immediate family.

Is this therefore at the discrtetion of the company as to what this covers

ohreally

Find out if there is a policy document for C/L and have a read through it, however ultimately it is likely to be discretionary.

TELLIT01

Compassionate leave is entirely at the discretion of the company unless anything is written into the contract of employment, which is unlikely. I presume the Killbill meant to say ..family member CANT have compassionate leave....
The relationship to the ill person will generally be the deciding factor along with the nature of the illness. If the condition is not life threatening then it is less likely that leave will be granted.
Whilst absolutely accepting the effect on the person wanting leave, the company has to draw a balance on allowing / not allowing compassionate leave.

GothicStirling

How close a family member is it?


My Dad was admitted to hospital for emergency aortic surgery (30% survival rate), to which I ran out the door, not thinking about pay. When I got back to work my manager said I would be paid for the whole day.

Nicki

What are you asking for? Paid or unpaid leave? To be allowed to use some of your annual leave at a time not convenient to the employer? How long are you asking for?

My own view (as an employee) is that the reasonableness of the request depends on how close a relative and how seriously ill they are. Unless it is a very close relative (or a dependents leave situation) and they are critically ill or have died, I'd assume that time I wanted to spend with them would need to be at my expense not my employers When my elderly father was having surgery for example I booked a couple of days annual leave to travel and be with him and it wouldn't have occurred to me to even ask for that to be compassionate leave (he wasn't a dependent), but when he died a few years later the time off between his death and funeral was given as compassionate and again I wouldnt have expected otherwise.

vegasvisitor

I believe you are legally entitled to time off work, however whether you are paid or not is another matter. Perhaps look up ACAS site or similar.

Transformers

Here's the gov.uk advice:

https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights

System

You are allowed time off for an emergency but only sufficient to deal with the actual emergency. The situation given is not an emergency.

There is no legal entitlement to compassionate leave. That is covered in your contract if allowed.

https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights

unlikelyheroine

If a family member is ill and you want to spend time with them then in my experience employers are generally amenable to annual leave being taken at shorter notice than would usually be required.

If someone has a debilitating condition then it sounds like they are going to be ill for a while and pre-booked leave can be used to visit with them.

At the risk of sounding uncompassionate!! - Businesses just aren't set up to have staff off for family member non-life-threatening illnesses on top of annual and sick leave. I don't understand the aversion to using annual leave where available in these circumstances that some people have - sometimes holiday days do have to be used for the vicissitudes of life requiring guilt-free absence from work as well as genuine "holiday." It does make overall absence look more reasonable as well (I appreciate probably not top concern when family member is ill but may be important in say a year or so's time).

Undervalued

!!!!!! wrote: »

You are allowed time off for an emergency but only sufficient to deal with the actual emergency. The situation given is not an emergency.

There is no legal entitlement to compassionate leave. That is covered in your contract if allowed.

https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights

Exactly.

Whilst most firms do allow some degree of compassionate leave the circumstances are entirely at their discretion (unless it happens to be spelt out in your terms and conditions). Some show considerable flexibility whereas others may show none at all.

Visiting a dependent who is being professionally cared for in hospital certainly doesn't qualify for the limited legal right to time off for dependants.

Again you are relying on your employer's goodwill here rather than any legal rights.