Parental Leave

[MakingMNGreatAgain]

I'm hoping to get an answer quicker on here than my rubbish HR dept.

I'm thinking of taking parental leave. I have two children, so 8 weeks entitlement, pro rata. However, I am part time, on 0.9 FTE. Does that then mean that I am only entitled to 7.2 weeks? Or does it mean the actual week is taken to be the length of time that I normally work in a week - so still entitled to 8 weeks?

Also, I am aware that my employer can move the leave. Does that mean they can move individual weeks (I.e. 2 weeks this month, 2 weeks next month) or do they have to move the entire leave, as a block?

I'm not sure that made sense but hopefully it does! Happy to answer anything I have missed out 😊

Thanks!

I think you are entitled to 8 weeks. Each week being 0.9 of full time. You would have to take 8 weeks of unpaid leave, being the 0.9 salary for each week.
I think that the leave is in week blocks so they can move individual weeks to suit themselves to fit in with business needs.
(I am not HR I just use parental leave myself, but I work full time)

Try the gov.uk site for more info

It's 8 weeks of your normal hours, so 8 weeks of 0.9.

They can postpone for up to 6 months and they can't alter the amount of leave requested. Although personally, I think it's reasonable to work with them and be flexible, especially if you have a good employer. Perhaps you don't have a good employer based on the HR comment.

Thanks! Had a look at the gov.uk site but couldn't see anything that answered my question, especially about splitting the leave requested.

My line manager has said that I'm not entitled to all of the weeks as I'm part time.

My employer is fine, and I'm already pretty flexible but just wanted to check. HR just parrot the policy which doesn't help!

It's all here:

www.gov.uk/parental-leave

Relevant quotes:

A ‘week’ equals the length of time an employee normally works over 7 days.

If it’s postponed, the employer:

must write explaining why within 7 days of the original request

suggest a new start date - this must be within 6 months of the requested start date

can’t change the amount of leave being requested