Parental leave

[Birthdaycake369]

I requested a weeks parental leave from my employer last year to look after my 2 primary aged kids in the summer holidays. They refused it initially but when I explained that it couldn’t be refused only granted or postponed they postponed it until mid September which wasn’t any use as the kids were back at school and I ended up just not taking any as they didn’t offer any other options. I’m still with the same employer and I would like to use it this year but I’m discouraged from applying from last years experience. Has anyone else experienced this with their employer and how did you tackle it? I have annual leave left but this keeps getting refused too when I try and book days off.

Honestly, it’s the new catch all response on here and it is so frustrating, as while yes they have to grant it they don’t have to grant it when you want it! I hope you are successful.

How far in advance did you request the parental leave? Do other people have leave booked over the school holidays? When can you book leave and when did you put in your requests? As said above parental leave is at the discretion of the company so they can delay it.

They’re within their rights to postpone it but if you have plenty of notice and it’s only one week, I think they’re being a bit unreasonable. The same with refusing your annual leave requests unless they’re very short notice.

Are they a good employer generally? Is it the type of organisation that’s very busy in the summer holidays or something?

I had last week as parental leave as mine had started their holiday already but I requested it in about March. Perhaps you don’t give enough notice of the request? I think I have to give at least two months.

Regarding your annual leave, how much notice do you give when requesting that? If you’re giving two or three months then it does sound like your employer is being difficult if they refuse you all the time.

All this is really important information. DH and I are using AL to look after kids during the summer holidays, And I had to book mine in April to ensure availability.

You only have a certain amount of parental leave per child I believe and once its used its used, it would be unpaid after that I think.

Its not your employers responsibility to arrange childcare I'm afraid

Are you only just requesting it now? I would think that’s much too short notice and you should put your annual or parental leave requests in for the summer holidays much earlier in the year. If they’ve already got lots of staff off over summer then it’s fair enough really.

School holidays start in 5 working days. Why didn’t you request last September?

Parental Leave is always unpaid but, yes, you are only entitled to a maximum of 18 weeks per child during their childhood (up at age 18).

Irrespective of whether you’re requesting AL or PL, I’d agree with PP in that your chances of success are dependent on when you’re submitting your request. Doing so now for the summer holidays that start for most in less than a week is, with kindness, silly by anyone’s standards. It’s not like the summer holidays come as a shock to anyone!

Maybe, rather than submitting requests for leave blindly, request a meeting / chat with your manager to agree some dates that you can take? If nothing else, it’ll spare you any disappointment.

You should not need to give huge amounts of notice for parental leave, the statutory policy states 21 days. That being said, it sounds like your employer is being difficult so I’d be aiming to give more to avoid them having a reason to postpone. Did you ask your employee WHY they postponed it, they need to have a ‘significant reason’ ie would cause ‘serious disruption to the business’. I would perhaps remind them of this when you request it.

With annual leave it sounds like they are being unreasonable, assuming you are requesting this within the timeframe stated within the policy, and if it was me I would flag to my manager and then escalate if not happy with the response, pointing out how many times it has been refused despite being requested within the stipulated timeframe. AL is supposed to be in line with YOUR convenience not theirs!

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee parental leave is unpaid and you can have up to 18 weeks per child until they’re 18, a maximum of 4 weeks a year. It has to be taken in whole weeks.

OP there’s lots to unpack here, as @Gizlotsmum asks, what’s the general situation with leave bookings? You need to give at least 21 days notice but requests can only be denied/postponed if there is a significant reason, like serious disruption to business. What reason did they give for postponing your last request?

If they turned you down for annual leave, it can't be that surprising that you also got turned down for parental leave.

I thought it was known that if you want time off during school.holidays, Christmas etc you need to get it booked in early or others will take it

I suppose if there are lots of people taking annual leave in the school holidays then it might leave them short staffed if you go off on PL
We have never granted it in school holidays for that reason

If they are going to be awkward, patch fill parental leave to another school holiday, and take annual leave in the interim.

Also I've got more assertive with telling politely, rather than asking permission.

In my work you need to arrange cover, so a few of us who were parents or had other care responsibilities would cover each other.

You don’t grant any parental leave during school holidays?! When do you expect parents to take it if not school holidays?!

@Birthdaycake369 It can only be postponed if there is a good business reason for doing so, they also need to tell you the reason, they also need to respond within 7 days in writing if it's a no.

I would ask for two weeks now, but as a PP said, just tell them rather than asking (don't mention the need for them to respond within 7 days).

But, yes regarding the holiday, it's a bit late now. Ultimately, you may just need to look for another job that is more flexible for holidays.

@Motheranddaughter what business are you in that you can say it would always cause severe business disruption to grant it during that time?

When you first tried and booked the annual leave, were there other people already booked off or do your company have certain times of the year you cant have leave?

The problem is the employer does have that right, and that’s why it isn’t an automatic solution either for childcare or for a child being unwell. It’s so frustrating the way it is always pushed on here.

We have so many staff off on the school holidays we simply cannot have any more off
We are complying with our legal obligations

They only have the right to push it if there's a business impact, not on a whim. I'm lucky to work somewhere where the majority of people don't have school age DC. It does seem discriminatory never to allow it in any school holidays and I think given it's intended specifically for spending time with DC you would have a good argument against the decision, if you put in a request very far in advance.

It is certainly not discriminatory

But if a parental leave request came in before an annual leave request for the same period, you should consider it fairly.

Annual leave for school holidays normally requested as soon as the holiday leave period starts
I consider all requests but have not been able to grant one in the school holidays to date
I think it would cause friction among the staff if someone could not get annual leave because someone else had AL and PL during the school holidays

Only if it will cause serious disruption. Disappointing that a business would have a blanket policy rather than review on a case by case basis, that is against the spirit of the policy.

Agreed - I am just pointing out that while it has to be granted it doesn’t necessarily have to be granted when you want it. I don’t personally think that’s right.