to think my brothers employer isn't being unfair

[nasewa]

My brother is on the bone marrow register and he has been matched with someone who needs a donation of his bone marrow. So in a couple of weeks he is going to London to have some taken from him. He is going to have some GA and have to stay in hospital in a couple of weeks. His employers is making him take holiday for this rather than sick because of the voluntary nature of this. My sister is incredulous at this and thinks that they shouldn't make him do this but I can see their point.

There should be some government scheme for things like this, the way there is for maternity leave. The employer should be able to claim the cost of a temp, or the employee should be able to claim their pay.

I actually asked a previous employer to look in to this as I was joining the register (not on it now due to illness), I think it came under 'leave of absence' but that was the NHS and it isn't unusual for NHS hospitals to have blood donation sessions and give staff time to donate.

Agree with above poster. There should be a national scheme to cover this. I don't think they should have to use personal holiday time.

I don't mean to be patronising, but as he is 19 and it's his first job, has he really explained and asked for the time off properly? It's the kind of thing I can see myself being a bit vague about at that age and stage of career. Otherwise, it seems like such an extraordinary decision for his employer to make - 2 days off to directly save someone's LIFE seems like such a good deal.

That's a very good point plantsitter.