To ask for sick leave for this?

[BrowniesAreSuper]

Or rather would my husband be U.

I'm having major surgery very soon (date only confirmed yesterday) and have to travel quite a bit for this. I'll be in hospital about a week and then need whatever time to recover at home after. We also have two under two. I'm currently on mat leave so obviously husband will need to take some time off. His work have been very understanding and are ok with him taking two weeks but have said he should go to his GP to get signed off for this period.

We both feel a bit weird about asking for him to be signed off as he's not sick, and don't want to waste a GP appointment so just thought I'd check what people think or whether this is a done thing? WWBU I guess!

Thing is you can only self cert for7 days so anything after that needs a doctors line. He could take holidays or ask for unpaid leave but sounds like they're happy to put through as sick leave. Hope op goes well.

I think he should take unpaid leave or holiday or a mix. What would a doc sign him off with acute needtoassistspouseitis?

A doctor shouldn’t sign him off if he’s not unwell.

I doubt a doctor would sign him off because he is fit to work and isn’t sick. He needs to take either parental leave or dependency leave (both probably unpaid). Alternatively, he could use up his holiday or ask if he is able to build up hours by working lots extra now to take TOIL.

My husband has to take annual leave, or work from home, when I need him home when I'm recovering from surgery. His work are very good, they give him the actual days I'm in hospital off as carers but I'm disabled so they're aware of our situation. His doctor wouldn't sign him off sick unless he was sick though.

I'm a GP and would politely tell him that I'm not committing fraud on his behalf if he came to me for a sick note for this! Annual leave or compassionate leave which may or may not be paid.

I've had a similar situation though not for quite so long. DH was in hospital 100+ miles away. I was granted compassionate leave.

You can’t expect a GP to sign to say that he’s sick when he isn’t. 😱

Everyone is entitled to parental leave (although it could very well be unpaid) so it should be under that. If his company doesnt have it they are potentially in trouble

This is exactly what dependents leave is for. Usually unpaid but protects your service rights.

Thanks for the replies everybody! I see you're pretty much all agreeing with us that he shouldn't ask for a sick line so will report back to him to speak to his team lead again.

@waterbottle12 - thanks, just my thoughts! Glad we didn't even phone GP reception to ask, feel like they would have put a black mark against our names

Years ago my GP signed dh off work for two weeks as I was unwell and he's all I have. Iirc the GP wrote wife support or similar on the form. Work said, oh we've not had one like this before and sent him home for two weeks.

Unpaid parental leave. He can't take sick leave if he's not sick.

He is entitled to carers leave. Not sure how long that is but he can then use annual leave for the rest.

My GP signed me off sick when my then husband was in hospital for 8 weeks, he just put stress & anxiety on the fit note.

Another option might be shared parental leave, if you're not using the whole year of maternity leave.

Who did he talk to at work? If it wasn't HR, it might be best to talk to them. I wonder if his boss just thought it would be easiest to put it through as sick leave.

So many different kinds of leave!

Unfortunately he's at the end of his leave year and with having a baby last year he doesn't have any annual leave left. No option for TOIL either. (Need for op came up quite recently so not really been able to plan.) And I'm on mat leave pay... So March will be a lean month - tesco value beans and sell-by-date toast times 31 it is then!

Does his work not have a special leave policy? It can be paid or unpaid (in these circumstance I would imagine a mixture).

He’s not sick and no doctor should sign him off

Employers can recover statutory sick pay from HMRC, but if they granted him paid carers or compassionate leave they’d have to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. I assume they’ll only let him take annual/unpaid leave if you don’t get a very.

Can't he take two weeks unpaid parental leave? He's not actually sick.

Cert, not very.

Unpaid leave, holiday or childcare help, it’s not sickness and I can’t imagine a GP would give a note to a perfectly well person.

I would think using annual leave would be the best option?

If OP is on maternity leave, and possibly her second period of maternity leave in a short time (two under 2), then maybe the household budget can't really afford unpaid leave at the moment?

Yes, technically, your GP could sign DH off work with stress/anxiety. But only if he or she feels this to be true. Not purely because his wife is in hospital & childcare is required.

He could ask work about compassionate leave (which is paid where I work). He could also ask about flexible working - either to work from home so he's around to help you, or to make up time by doing extra hours when he's back at work.

Ah x-posted. So no annual leave left & cannot afford unpaid leave.

Is there any scope at all for grandparents or other family members to help out?