To ask to have unpaid leave

[Seesomesunshine]

I’m right in the middle of menopause and exhausted. HRT is not suiting me at all. I sleep really badly and I’m limping from week to week.

We get a generous annual leave allowance but by the time I’ve booked my holidays there’s not a lot left for just having duvet / relaxing days.

Id like to ask to have two weeks a year unpaid leave, to take these over my holidays so they’re taken as a block of a week at a time which will then release another 10 days of annual leave to be taken as and when I need it to rest.

Is this an acceptable thing to ask for? I can’t see my young male manager agreeing to it - anything anyone wants to do his response is ‘but it I offer it to you I have to offer it to everyone’. We have people in our team that have kids under 18 and take parental leave - it’s not really any different to this.

Is there anything I can say to help make my case? I don’t want to apply to reduce my hours permanently and this seems a good compromise. It doesn’t cost the company anything as it’s unpaid and it will reduce the risk of me crashing and going on the sick which is something I’m close to at present.

Any thoughts?

We can buy extra annual leave. Suggest they implement that! It's good for the company bottom line and fairly easily absorbed in medium to large companies. That that it seems more like mutual benefit

I don't see why you can't ask for it? It's unpaid so why not ask?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable if it’s unpaid. The alternative is calling in sick!

If you already have a generous leave allowance, could you just change how you use it? Take one less holiday and use the days for duvet /relaxing days instead? If you'd prefer to have an extra 10 days then there's no harm asking, but id suggest checking if unpaid leave would affect you pension contributions. It does where I work though I forget how much you have to take for it to have an impact.

Does your work have a policy about it? I could take unpaid leave and a previous employer (and did twice) but the rule was that you had to have taken all your leave within the year first before you could apply for annual leave.

Bloody hell, so many mistakes! You had to have taken all your annual leave first before you could apply for UNPAID leave.

Did you take the unpaid parental leave when your own dc were small?

Is there somebody who could easily cover you if you take a 'duvet day'?

My last work place you could 'buy' extra annual leave, only up to a week. It was salary sacrifice and payments spread over 12 months.

My dp workplace (NHS) refused his request for unpaid leave last year, due to service demand, so I guess it depends how easily they can cope without you and fill the gap.

Depends on how much they need you. If you already get generous annual leave, the answer is less holidays surely.

It does cost the company though, either your work is not done, so impacts on customers, or others have to cover, so overtime possibly? And it will8m0act on your colleagues who may not be offered the same

Does your company have a menopause policy? If not speak to HR about getting one

and why not save some of your generous holidays to be able to take long weekends or odd days?

You sound like a perfectly reasonable employee. I do hope they grant this. Explain it in person not via email.

It was not granted. I was told that if I need to be off work due to menopausal issues for odd days here and there to take it all as sick leave and they will count it as one absence so it doesn’t trigger sickness disciplinary.

Manager knows me well and knows I’d feel most uncomfortable calling in sick so on I go. The recent bank holidays have helped a bit so I’m managing, albeit I am tired, but have a week off in June. I’ll limp on till then.

They’ve told you it’s ok to take as sick leave so just do it, don’t feel guilty

Could you change your working pattern/hours or work flexibly? Can you afford to work fewer hours?

Eg work a 9 day fortnight, full time but longer days so you can have a day off every other week.

Work 90% over 4 days so you earn slightly less but have a day off every week. Wednesday would be good for this as you only ever have to work 2 days in a row.

Have an agreement where you start later or have a longer lunch to accommodate a siesta to catch up on sleep as needed?

Just get used to calling in sick. Do it once or twice and then it will feel easier. I struggled with sleep in menopause and found Kind sleep patches helped. I didn't get the 8 hours they advertise but 6.5 to 7 hours which I could cope with. I am also taking Spirulina which is helping with general well being.

They have told you to call in sick, but you feel uncomfortable. That's on you op. Don't be a martyr.

I was told that if I need to be off work due to menopausal issues for odd days here and there to take it all as sick leave and they will count it as one absence so it doesn’t trigger sickness disciplinary.

Make sure you have this in writing

Yes I unless you are doing a job that really isn't needed, I don't think having leave for health reasons that isn't sick leave would be right. I mean, once the company allow leave that isn't sick leave and isn't annual leave, how do they stop anyone taking weeks and weeks with no consequences? If you need to not be in for health reasons, take sick leave. If you need a break but not really for health reasons, take annual leave.

Well my workplace has a policy for this and many people have it built into their contracts as non working periods, some to cover school holidays, other for a number of other reasons so worth an ask.

You are being a dick in comparing it to parental leave because what you are looking for is completely different. Parents have caring responsibilities towards their children as I am sure you are aware and luckily this is recognised in employment rights - yes their choice to have them blah blah blah but still the leave exists for that reason and it’s just tough that not everyone can have random days off because they are a bit tired, aren’t we all?