Unpaid parental leave, so any of you take it for summer holidays?

[Corona19]

Just asked manager for info about unpaid parental leave, via email. And all I’m hearing is loads of sighing from her corner. Summer is dead for us. We’re a small research group relying on students for work. We have no planned projects for that time of year either.

Not sure if I’ve made a faux pas, and it’s not the done thing to do?

Spent all summer last year in the office and missed out on time with them. All I want is 2 weeks with them. A/L isn’t stretching far enough between DH and me. He does all pick ups and has been eating away at his A/L for half terms.

Yes, DH has done this before but not for a few years. Unpaid leave has to be taken in blocks of a week IIRC, so before DS was at school DH would use some annual leave to take a day per week off to look after him and then take some unpaid leave to boost family holiday time. I have worked part time for the last ten years so haven't needed to do this. It worked really well for us, so good luck with your request.

I am taking unpaid leave this summer. I’m not sure if I will take it specifically as ‘parental leave’ because I don’t know that my employer cares, and I’ll just do whatever is administratively less complicated for them.

I work for a university research institute and it was actually my line manager who suggested it. It’s very quiet here in the summer and we need to save some money in the budget so would make things easier if I didn’t have to draw a salary for a couple weeks.

I work in an office where there is a lot of support for working parents and flexible working though. Could you sell it as a way to save them money?

You're entitled to take it although it's unpaid and the company can tell you when it works for them (within a year).

It's a change of plans for your boss sure, and possibly something they need to read up on, but it's not the biggest deal in the world!