To be annoyed at leave I was told to take being unpaid?

[AngeloMysterioso]

I work a night job from home, and recently had an incident with one of my DC where I had to take them to A&E. I contacted my manager to let them know I’d be logging in a bit late, they said it was fine. Eventually got home and logged in about 1h 20m after my start time. Manager kept telling me not to worry about logging in, they’d already put me down as absent on dependant’s leave, I must be knackered, go to bed etc etc. I ended up doing about an hour sorting through some IT stuff so I wouldn’t have to do it at the start of my next shift, and then logged off. But I would have been more than willing to complete the rest of my shift had my manager not repeatedly encouraged me to take the rest of the night off.

Now I’ve just been told that dependant’s leave is unpaid so I’m going to lose a night’s worth of wages (manager was apparently previously unaware of this). Manager is suggesting I put it down as annual leave instead or work an extra shift so I don’t lose pay. I’m annoyed because I would have continued and finished my shift, and now I either have to lose some annual leave or do an extra shift on my night off to make up for the lost wages.

In what world do you presume to know the dependant leave policies of every employer? Mine is paid for up to 10 days a year. So not OF COURSE at all 🙄.

But you know your own company’s policy. That’s all that’s needed. Just like the OP should have known the policy of the company she bloody works for.

Many jobs allow it - I've never been in one that doesn't. I get a set amount of paid days off each year per child, which doesn't affect anything else such as annual leave or compassionate leave, if needed. If my child is unwell I call in, fill in a form and get paid for that day.

In the UK you don't get paid sick leave either, for the first 3 days you're off. Then it kicks in at a miserly rate of £116.75 a week.

You're a bit deluded on this unfortunately. Carer's leave is only for elderly or disabled dependents, not children.

Dependents leave is for unforeseen emergencies e.g. to take the child to the doctor and arrange emergency childcare. You can't just stay off work every time your child is unwell. If the issue goes on beyond a day or 2 they will normally expect you to take annual leave

It's only big employers and public sector that would (potentially) pay you for this. Small and medium employers generally don't

What's your line of work just out of interest?

Dependants leave is unpaid.
If someone in my team needs something I'll tend to start with annual leave first if they have enough balance, or time off in lieu. Some people do prefer the unpaid dependants leave as there's no pressure to work it back and it doesn't eat out of their annual leave.
You could always chat to your manager and ask could the balance come off your annual leave instead so you're not losing any pay.

That’s quite the separate point though isn’t it? And it’s not as if she was exhausted and stressed at all.

It is up to the employee to realise they won't be paid for it
First and foremost the manager should be able to advise. They get paid more and have more responsibility.

Staff who joined the organisation I work for (voluntary sector) pre-2018 get 6 months sick leave on full pay and a further 6 months on half pay and it's paid from day 1 of sickness.

It's a little less generous for staff who joined after 1/4/2018, I think it's 3 months on full pay and 6 on half pay.

In what way am I deluded to comment about Australia and England both having Carer’s Leave when it exists for both counties? And at what point in your attempt to patronising put me down did I say it referred to the OP’s situation?

I’m not deluded and I’m also not ignorant enough to not be capable of reading and understanding posts.

Dependents leave is not always unpaid. In fact most places I have worked provides x number of days paid. So I can understand the confusion.

I get 7 days of paid carers leave that I can use in situations like this. We also have paid leave for domestic abuse situations specifically, and compassionate leave. Lots of examples of leave which is paid but isn't annual leave.

I actually prefer that my parental/dependents leave is unpaid because this way I don't feel guilty about using it (in theory. In practice there is pressure to take it as sick leave because it is easier to record apparently).

Mine is also paid up to a couple of weeks a year, as is up to a year of sick leave on full pay & another year on part pay, bereavement leave, maternity leave (full pay for 6 months) & paternity leave (full pay for 3 months). I’d wonder in what world an employer cares so little about their employees wellbeing that they can’t manage them missing a few hours without docking it from their pay. It’s hardly likely to inspire those working from them to bother going above and beyond when work need something is it.

I get a couple of paid dependants leave then can have unpaid if manager agrees. It's up to you to know your employers policies.

I get paid Carer’s Leave (UK) and time for appointments too. Haven’t needed to use it often, but I have used it. I don’t think it’s obvious at all that it would be unpaid. Definitely worth checking your contract when you start a new job so that you know where you stand.

Not true; I definitely do. Depends on your employer’s terms and conditions. Where I work, the amount of sick leave you get full pay for depends on your length service. I’ve had the same in other jobs too (not the same sector - public and private).

Why would you feel guilty?

My husband was randomly in hospital for 2 days and my manager put it down as 'authorised absence' so it was fully paid!

Again with my son who was in hospital for 1 day, they did it as authorised absence and not dependents leave.

My point was that I didn’t ask for the whole shift off, at no point did I suggest to my manager that I might need the whole shift off; I just said I’d be logging on late. She was the one who decided to put me as absent for the whole shift and designate it as dependants leave before I’d even got home. And then repeatedly insisted that I take the night off when I did log in. (Also, they didn’t have to arrange cover, as I said in an earlier post one of the points my manager made to me on was that it was really quiet).

I did ask HR if there was any wiggle room, and at first it looked like they were going to let me have it, but then she deleted that message and said my dept Ops mgr would speak to me about it. Ops mgr’s position is very much “computer says no”. So my options are to lose the money, lose all the annual leave I have left, or try to squeeze in the extra hours by the end of the month. When it’s half term so I won’t be able to rest during the day like I usually do.

That's just statutory sick pay, lots of employers pay more than that, I get six months full pay six months half pay and I've recently have a member of staff exceed that and I applied to have her full pay extended (extenuating circumstances) and it was granted.

As a carer I can tell you that this is exactly what unions etc said would happen when the previous Gov introduced dependent leave. Previously management would often let staff have time off unofficially but now there is a box to tick specifically for it and sadly it isn't paid.

It is useful in that companies can't deny staff time off but the unpaid aspect is really poor.

My brother was nearly caught out too.

This is good info https://www.acas.org.uk/time-off-for-dependants

By private appointments, you mean medical appointments for yourself such as when you need treatment for illness by the hospital/dr etc? It is really difficult to change a hospital appointment to fit around work hours, believe me I have tried. So not only are you in a position that you are unwell, you are also penalised as you have to take unpaid leave or use your annual leave. In my last position this was paid.