PLEASE HELP advise urgently needed on what to do if you DON'T qualify for paternity leave !!!

[sweetbean]

My DH has been working for his current employer since October and we have realised that he will NOT qualify for paternity leave or pay.

I need to know if there is way that he can take the 2 weeks of anyway even if it is unpaid.

He has enough holiday to be able to take one week of this but can he ask for a weeks unpaid leave.

The baby is due may 24th and beacuse we already have a 3 yrs old daughter and i have suffered badly with depression this pregancay i really feel that i need him to be home with me for the full 2 weeks as im worried that i will have post natal depression and feel unable to cope if he is not around to help me in those first couple of weeks.

I'm not sure how his employers will react and im worried that they will refuse him leave.

I would be so grateful for any advise

Thanks in advance x

He will probably have to ask for unpaid leave or holiday

Alas you don't qualify for parental leave until you have worked for your employer for a year

sweetbean there's no legal right for him to take 2 weeks off, paid or unpaid I'm afraid. The only unpaid leave he would be entitled to as he has been employed for such a short time would be emergency dependents' leave, which could only be a couple of days, and is to deal with emergencies.

Do you have any reason to believe his employers would refuse a second week leave unpaid? You may find you are worrying about what his rights are unnecessarily.

If he's got a week's worth of annual leave left, it would be very harsh of them not to allow him to take it at the appropriate time, and they may well be more than happy to allow him to take the second week as unpaid leave, or even allow him to 'borrow' some of his annual leave entitlement from the next year as well.

Don't assume the worst until you need to. Get him to speak to his boss and explain the situation. He doesn't have any legal rights to fall back on but his employers might well be sympathetic.

Agree with FBB. DH started his job in November and his employers have been fine about paternity leave and believe me...his employers dont give ANYTHING away for free so worth finding out first before you worry.

Thank you for your replies horseshoes is your DH getting unpaid leave ??

My advise is to phone job centre plus.

I am sure that when i applied for maternity allowance they also asked if i needed to claim for paternity allowance for my husband. This where you dont automatically qualify for it through your employers.

The number to call is: 0845 6088595

I hope this helps

I don't think there is such a thing as paternity allowance

My DH is in the same situation - he is trying to save as much of his holiday as possible, work extra days and store those days and also I think you are entitled to parental leave in week blocks (unpaid).