To ask for unpaid time off

[stephanie1986]

Looking for some advise before I have to speak to my boss.
So I work part-time, and my parents look after my DD when I am at work. They have booked a 2 week holiday next month, which was not a problem as my MIL was going to take over looking after DD.
However due to unforseen circumstances (totally outwith her control and we do not blame her for in anyway) she is not able to help anymore.
My question is AIBU to ask my boss for the time off unpaid?

I have looked through the government website and if I am reading it correctly I can do this but not sure where I stand.

I have most of my holidays booked for various things throughout the year, but could use a few on this time.

Just hoping someone out there can help. TIA xx

I had 2 weeks parental leave unpaid last year due to kid needing an op. I had to give 2 weeks notice of the time. If you work for a large company they should have HR policies on this sort of thing. It certainly doesn't hurt to ask.

You're entitled to parental leave, check out with HR or the person who does that.

Hi OP
You can only ask I guess,is your employer understanding about childcare issues?
Do you qualify for any free childcare?I expect nursery will cost a lot.
Any chance of working from home?
A relative recently needed unpaid time off,explained the problem to her boss who have them the time off and they allowed her to make up the hours,say an hour or so on the end of each shift,so that her pay was unaffected at the end of the month.
Or is there a mum at school who could help you out and you could either pay her some cash or do some child minding for her when she needs it and you are free?
Not sure what else is out there but I'm sure there will be some great ideas from other posters.
Good luck op.

You can ask for unpaid leave whenever you want! It's up to your employee whether to grant it.

Legally if you have been with the company for over a year, you can ask for parental leave (which you must take in full weeks - a week being whatever you normally work). However "legally" you must give 21 days notice for this, which you might fall outside of.

However, even with parental leave your employee doesn't have to give it to you if they can prove it will cause significant disruption.

I'd ask, but start working on a plan B :) (DH/DP's company/friends/paid childcare?)

Thank you all for your responses.
It is a really small company I work for, I have checked the policy and it says that you are entitled to a "reasonable amount of time off for childcare breakdown" which I am guessing that this would fall under.

The main issue is that they are nutorious for basically bullying people for taking time off, even when they have sicklines etc.

I don't qualify for free childcare, and for a couple of weeks I'm not really wanting to put her into nursery etc. My job doesn;t allow me to work from home unfortunately. I could ask my friends to help out (DD's 16months) however I wouldn't feel comfortable asking them to watch her for a full 2 weeks.