Using annual leave for emergency’s

Sophielooloo

Hi, looking for a bit of advice. My daughter has healthy issues and registered disabled. In 2017 she had a lot of admissions to ICU all in emergent situations which when I returned to work this time off was taken out my annual leave. 2018 has not been as bad but and so far she has had 2 hospital admissions both using my annual leave.
She currently has appointments for injections that are every 2 weeks and I have been using my annual leave for those also.
From what I have found on the internet I have to use my holidays for planned appointments but should be allowed to take the emergency situations as unpaid leave and not annual holiday. I was just wondering if anyone can confirm this before I go into Work refusing to take holidays!

nicechap

Sophielooloo wrote: »

Hi, looking for a bit of advice. My daughter has healthy issues and registered disabled. In 2017 she had a lot of admissions to ICU all in emergent situations which when I returned to work this time off was taken out my annual leave. 2018 has not been as bad but and so far she has had 2 hospital admissions both using my annual leave.
She currently has appointments for injections that are every 2 weeks and I have been using my annual leave for those also.
From what I have found on the internet I have to use my holidays for planned appointments but should be allowed to take the emergency situations as unpaid leave and not annual holiday. I was just wondering if anyone can confirm this before I go into Work refusing to take holidays!

What does your staff handbook say? What does your union say?

Personally, i wouldn't go into work demanding things and say "but someone on the internet told me this!"

74jax

I wouldn't class planned appointments as emergency appointments.
Can you not speak to your manager with the dates and ask to take unpaid or take the time off and work a Saturday or more hours on another day to make the time up?
I wouldn't demand anything.

Carrot007

Are you sure that work are not doing this for your benefit so you don't have unpaid leave?


I would think most people would prefer to be allowed to take it as annual leave.



Have you discussed this with them?

iammumtoone

i think you are getting confused with the right to take time off in a emergency to make other arrangements for a sick child.

So in these cases if your daughter had to be admitted into hospital in an emergency you would have the right to time off to take her and time to arrange alternative cover to stay with her, there would be no right for you to be able to stay with her all the time until she was well enough to leave.

An employer does not have to grant you holiday at short notice so by letting you take the time as holiday without notice they were are actually being lenient to help.

As above I suggest asking if you can make the time up or taking some of the leave unpaid.

Tigsteroonie

As above - you could probably get the day of emergency admission as a paid/unpaid emergency day off; but anything after that will probably come from either paid annual leave or unpaid leave.

I tend to take our family holidays as half annual leave (paid) and half parental leave (unpaid). It means I can give my employer the required three weeks' notice for the parental leave; but keeps some paid annual leave for when our son is sick.

jobbingmusician

Agreed. You need to read up on carers leave and leave for dependants. You are entitled to leave for emergencies but not, for example, to attend hospital appointments.

Sophielooloo

Sorry I should have been clearer, I take annual leave for all her planned appointments, that’s fine. The issue I have is that as she has appointments every 2 weeks I am soon going to run out of annual leave. At the moment I am also using annual leave for emergencies. Luckily we have only had 2 or 3 emergencies this year but last year is was many.
Last Thursday she was admitted to ICU so I had Thursday she Friday off as an emergency but will have to take annual leave for that.
I would much rather take the emergencies unpaid to save my annual leave for the appointments as there’s so many of them.
Work say it all has to be annual leave so I don’t know what happens when I run out of annual leave!!

iammumtoone

How long are the appointments?

Would you be better asking if you can make the time up for the appointments and saving the leave for the emergencies?

If the appointments are only a few hours hours can you stay later at night/start early to account for popping out during the day?

If they insist you take leave can you ask for the appointments if you can take leave in hourly slots, if you are taking half days are you 'wasting' leave as you are not at the appointments all that time?

theoretica

Can your daughter's other parent share the responsibility?

agrinnall

I think you might have to consider reducing your hours and starting flexible working, so that the time you spend on appointments is neither work nor leave time - that might not be possible for emergencies as clearly they can't be planned in advance. Whether your current employer will be open to this, and offer enough flexibility so that you can organise your working days and times to fit around the hospital appointments, I can't say, but you have the right to ask for it as long as you've worked there for at least 26 weeks.


https://www.gov.uk/flexible-working