Self-employed taking leave

kev_pecker

My wife is a self-employed dental hygiene therapist and has just recently returned to work after being off for 9 months on maternity. She’s asked for some time off over Christmas and not all of it has been granted as they need to have one hygienist in and the other one, who is a full employee, has already requested it.

She doesn’t really want to rock the boat too much and will probably suck it up and work, but it just feels a bit like she’s getting none of the benefits of being employed (sick pay, paid leave pensions etc) and all of the negatives.

Her contract just says how much leave (unpaid) she can take and doesn’t give any details on timescales or cover. I'm just after people’s opinions really, is it fair? Would you make an issue of it?

Thank you in advance

Brynsam

Are you sure that HRMC will view her as self-employed if the contract stipulates things like the amount of leave she can take?

Is it fair/would I make an issue of it? Of course not - I'd simply go elsewhere if I didn't like what was on offer.

Comms69

kev_pecker wrote: »

My wife is a self-employed dental hygiene therapist and has just recently returned to work after being off for 9 months on maternity. She’s asked for some time off over Christmas and not all of it has been granted as they need to have one hygienist in and the other one, who is a full employee, has already requested it.

She doesn’t really want to rock the boat too much and will probably suck it up and work, but it just feels a bit like she’s getting none of the benefits of being employed (sick pay, paid leave pensions etc) and all of the negatives.

Her contract just says how much leave (unpaid) she can take and doesn’t give any details on timescales or cover. I'm just after people’s opinions really, is it fair? Would you make an issue of it?

Thank you in advance

How can she be self employed and have to ask for time off?...

Sounds like she’s an employee; and the employer is being dodgy.

agrinnall

If she is genuinely self employed and the contract to provide services doesn't state when she can be absent from the place of work (leave isn't really a valid concept in self employment) then she can simply not turn up and not be in breach of the contract, but I wouldn't rate her chances very highly of the contract being renewed once it ends. Can she provide a substitute to work in her place at the time she wants to be away?

lushplus4

If she is self employed she can tell them when she is not available to work, she is not under any contract saying she has to work at all

tacpot12

Even if she was an employee, annual leave is usually organised on a "first come, first served" basis, unless other arrangements have been made. She needs to get her bid in for time off at christmas earlier, it is not like Christmas occurs at radically different dates each year.

To decide whether she is being treated fairly, your wife needs to look at the situation in its totality, not just annual leave "fairness".

If your wife was truly self-employed she would be able to say to her customer that she was not available on certain dates, and leave the customer to arrange cover using their permanent staff - who can only take the leave that their employer allows. However, if she took this approach, it would "rock the boat", both with her customer and with her co-workers.

Kayalana99

It's swings and roundabouts. The thing with self-employment is you just can't not turn up when a client needs you, or you risk losing that client (or breaking contracts)

For example a wedding photographer makes a contract to turn up on X date, they then can't for that reason. Same with an Accountant they may agree to get Y job done by X date and they can't just 'take a day off' because with self-employment a job needs to be done for the clients requirements

The same with this company, they need cover for X dates. Now she is more then within her rights to turn down these dates, but then the company are more then within their rights to go find someone else too and she will lose their business.

It's a bit touchy whether she is employed or self-employed, but at the same time that is a separate battle as being self-employed in most cases you actually find most self-employed people working more than the 40 hour week if it's a full time job for them as you take work home and I know some people not to have time off for years simply because they are a one man band.