Sister-in-law's wedding. Would you expect time off work to be paid or unpaid?

[saltandvinegardiscos]

I've got a friend who works as a TA. She's asked for leave from work for a day, so she can go to her husband's sister's wedding.

She's fuming, because work has said she can take the day, but it will be unpaid.

Personally, I think that's fair. The policy says it's at the discretion of the headteacher.

Anyone else who works in schools or in jobs where you can't just book annual leave, what would you expect in this circumstance?

Unpaid and to consider it an absolutely bloody miracle that she got it at all.

Staff usually don't even get time off for their own weddings, never mind their siblings' - you'll find that the first Saturday of any school holiday is always booked up for good reason; school staff want to get married and have at least a few days' honeymoon.

It's madness she's expecting an extra days paid leave!

I think TAs get paid so little anyway that it could be given paid as a gesture of goodwill

Surely they know that when they take the job. If you start giving one person paid leave during term time then you have to start giving everyone paid term time leave, and schools couldn’t function if that were the case. This strikes a balance - can go to a family wedding on a school day, but the conditions make it unattractive unless it’s really important.

And what about the other TAs, Reception, Cover Supervisors, First Aid, Admin, Admissions, SEND, Pastoral, Finance, Site Team, Cleaners, Canteen and Lunchtime Supervision staff who haven't got a handy brother for a 'gesture of goodwill'?

Absolutely.

My question would be has there been some precedent set - does she know of someone else given paid leave? Because if yes then it puts an entirely different slant on things.

Of course it’s unpaid if she works in a school. She should know this.

She is unreasonable to be coming because she should have seen it coming.

That said, TAs routinely have shite pay and conditions so it would have been nice.

Of course it’s unpaid. It’s like running out of annual leave and expecting to get another thrown in for free.

Until everyone starts asking for time off for spurious reasons?

She’s very lucky to have been given the day unpaid. I was refused a day off, even unpaid, for the funeral of a friend.

That's unusual in my experience, and I would say that you have a very accommodating HT.

I'd expect unpaid too..I'm a TA in an independent school

Unpaid. If she was in another job, it would be coming out of her holiday.

I did once get paid in a similar circumstance, but school budgets were slightly less stretched back then, the head was generous, and I was a part-timer with only one lesson to be covered on that day - it might have been more admin than was worth it to dock my pay.

This is the downside of working in a school! I would expect that to be unpaid, even though it is ' family'. It really is frowned upon! We don't get paid for the school holidays - your own is expected to be taken then. However, we acrue holiday pay during the time we ARE at work, which we get a percentage of as part of our pay each month.

Paid 🤣 what a muppet!

My wedding was on 1st April this year, so that I could get married in the holidays and have a bit of a honeymoon!

Of course it should be unpaid. She's delusional if she thinks otherwise.

I think it’s 50-50 whether she’d be allowed the time off at all and 100% would be unpaid. Only exception would be if she only worked two days per week and it helped the school to switch her hours to some other time they needed help. But 99.9% going to be unpaid.

Unpaid.

If it was her funeral then hopefully paid, but not a wedding.

My daughter is a teacher, and is getting married in the first week of the school summer hols next year, otherwise none of her friends would get to come!

I wasn't paid for the day I took off work because my dad died suddenly.

Not sure why she thinks she would be paid for a day off to attend SILs wedding?

That's so sad. Sorry for your loss

I wasn't paid for the day I took off work because my dad died suddenly.

That's pretty bad though.