Emergency leave at work rights

[LifeOnAmber]

I was just wondering if someone can help me understand the law when it comes to absence from work.

So what's going through my head right now is let's say my child gets into an accident so is hospitalized or maybe he is at home but seriously ill or something has come about where I know as a parent I need to be there for my child. Now I would turn to work with this and they will say to me yes okay you've got annual leave left, use your annual leave and you can have some time with their child, if there is nothing else urgent at work or if I do not have annual leave they may grant me leave without pay or compassionate leave. I don't know exactly what compassionate leave is.

Or they could turn around and say sorry your child is not dead so we are under no obligation to give you time off instead let your partner or family member look after the child, we need you at work.

Now if the latter happens and I as a parent feel I'm sorry but I need to be there with my child, my question is what rights do I have if I don't turn up on Monday and I let them know why I'm not turning up, do they have the right to sack me on the spot and do I have any claim for unfair dismissal or some compensation?

I was just thinking as somebody who works full time 40 hours a week and I don't have anyone else who can look after my child. If he all of a sudden suddenly got seriously ill then I would be the only person to look after him so I thought does that mean I have to then leave my job and look after him or do I have a right as a parent to take some time off work in an emergency to look after my child.

And even if you have a partner, they might be working full time too so are unavailable.

You have a protected right to
Emergency dependants leave - google it

We are allowed 10 days of paid Special Leave per year for situations like these.

You need to check the specific employee absence policy. However time off for emergencies is often limited to time required for arranging alternative care, not ongoing caring responsibilities. Compassionate leave is normally in case of death or serious illness of an immediate relative. Unpaid leave may be an option if neither are possible.

Emergency dependants leave - which is the legal right - only entitles you to take unpaid time off with the purpose of dealing with an immediate emergency (so it cannot be something scheduled in advance such as a hospital stay) and, if necessary, to arrange for someone to care for the child (but not to do it yourself). There is no specific amount of time allowed in the law, but generally it would be little more than a few hours / the rest of the day. It is certainly not days or weeks.

Many employers would go a little further - either by allowing for some limited paid time off, or allowing perhaps a few days. But they do not have to. And OP, if you don't turn up for work for any reason, whether you told the employer you weren't coming or not, then yes, you can be dismissed and you would not win an unfair dismissal claim because in law it wouldn't be unfair! Whether you are a single parent or not makes no difference, but if you have a partner many employers would expect you to share the responsibility (assuming they are amenable to allowing a longer period).

Many Employers expect parents to share emergency care not that just mum takes all the time off.
You are worrying about something that might not happen.

At the end of the day your employer has a business to run. They can be understanding to a point. Emergency leave is, as others have said, to deal with an immediate emergency like getting a child that’s broken an arm to A&E, or arranging alternative care if planned care falls through. If you have a child requiring significant ongoing care to the point you can’t work then that’s exactly it. You can’t work.
Many places would allow unpaid time off for dependents with enough notice, but that can’t go on indefinitely.
Depending on the company policies you may be entitled to take an unpaid sabbatical for an extended period that could deal with ongoing care commitments, but even that isn’t an indefinite amount of time.
You have to think about it from an employers perspective. They need you to be there to work. That’s what you were hired for and what you get paid to do. They can allow for the odd sick days and emergencies, but they can’t afford indefinite absences.
It is a scary thought about what would happen if your employment was insecure due to things entirely out of your control. For this reason you should think about things like critical illness cover in case you do get diagnosed with a condition that stops you being able to work. Bills continue to be due even when you can’t work.

It depends a lot what scale of illness or injury you're thinking of. Something really major that requires months off is going to be challenging, although some employers might be able to offer a sabbatical.

Serious but short term, an afternoon to a couple of days can usually be sorted one way or another (although how can vary quite a lot from employer to employer). Virtually everyone with caring responsibilities needs this sometimes, and employers are not supposed to refuse reasonable requests for emergency time off for a dependant or dismiss you because of it (within limits; you still ultimately need to be able to do the job you were hired to do). See https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants.

Unpaid parental leave might be a solution for the middle time frame, if you need to be off for a couple of weeks and don't have annual leave to use.

If you needed to be off work long term then the GP can sign you off. Stress or something. For the occasional day/week, then parental leave or unpaid leave would be used. They cannot force you to work.

But a pattern of taking time off at short notice or failure to attend may trigger a disciplinary process potentially resulting in dismissal. They cannot force you to work but nor do they have to continue to employ you, especially within the first two years.

A colleague of mine got signed off sick by her gp. She was off for a long time as her teenage son was desperately ill with cancer.

I think that's how it would normally work. I assumed the sick notes would have said stress related reasons.

She got the normal sick pay the company offered which I imagine ran out after a while.

Emergency leave is for emergencies, the day something happens basically. Beyond that day it really depends on the circumstances, for a moderately sick child, the kind of illness that is infectious, makes them miserable but is self limiting, it's reasonable for an employer to say that you need to take annual leave, unpaid leave or request you share the care responsibility with their other parent, other relatives or for you to arrange paid care. Sometimes you can work from home, ideal for older children who just need you to be in the house

I know it's tough but your child care issues and your family set up isn't their problem.

And you cannot force them to pay you! Or to keep you on.

"Stress or something" - otherwise known as lying through your teeth, is insulting to people who really are suffering from poor mental health. May as well call it a "bad back" - because these days many employers consider both to be swinging the lead because of the amopunt of abuse of these diagnoses. And you may get away with it - assuming you have two years employment under your belt - but be under no illusions that an employer will buy it, and don't be surprised when what goes around comes around.

My understanding is that the basic legal right to the leave is there but it is unpaid; but many employers will have their own policies which might be slightly more generous.

my own approach is to keep back some annual leave days for emergencies

You don’t consider having a child seriously ill with cancer stressful? That would put a lot of people’s mental health under severe pressure.

If my child was seriously unwell, I'd certainly be signed off with stress. Most companies have a robust sickness process, one sickness episode is unlikely to cause a disciplinary. Long term, obviously if you were going to be off for months/years, then no company can continue paying for that, just as sickness would eventually be unpaid. But it's an option.

Short term compassionate leave up to 3 to 5 days usually - depends on policy

Short notice annual leave or unpaid leave.

18 weeks of unpaid parental leave in blocks of one week or more until the child is 18.

If you have two years' service you have some employment rights.

Employers tend to be more understanding with very reliable staff.

Why is it troubling you so @LifeOnAmber. Are other things going on?

Err - but we aren't talking about a child seriously ill with cancer, are we? Such an extreme example doesn't invalidate my point that in the 80's and 90'd everyone had a bad back, now everyone has stress the minute they don't like something. You have actually nicely made my exact point - when someone really does have stress or a bad back, employers look askance exactly because of the people making it up. Your child having a cold is normal, not stressful, Chickenpox is unfortunate but not stressful. Playing the stress card simply means that employers become immured to the scenario; and generally pisses off most of your colleagues who know damned well what you are up to.

It's great if employers can be flexible and supportive, and I would definitely encourage that. But as somebody said up thread, employers are there to get the work done, not provide creche care.Your children are not their problem. Not getting the work done, or having to pay someone else to do it whilst also paying sick pay IS their problem. And increasingly for small and medium sized employers, it's the straw that breaks the camels back. Then nobody has jobs.

@RosesAndHellebores 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave in blocks of one week or more until the child is 18.

For which you must give 21 days notice, it is unpaid, and the employer can refuse it with good reason.

I’m fairly sure an ex colleague was fairly stressed when his eight year old daughter was dying from terminal cancer.

And again - we are not talking about extreme circumstances. The OP asked a specific and generalised question. I stand by what I have said.

The key is communication OP, and being honest. I'm a small business owner and there have been many emergencies over the past when staff have needed time off. It's tough when it's at a peak trading period, but we always find a way. We're all humans, not robots after all.

And I'd far rather someone said "I need to be at home with my child/parent/spouse" than go off to the GP and get signed off. That just creates mistrust.

Thank you all for your replied. Just had a look at the policy at work.It gives me some reassurance.

Emergency Time off for Dependants

A 'Dependant' is a spouse or partner, parent, child or any other person who lives in the same household as the colleague; this includes elderly relatives living with the colleague. A dependant can be any other person who reasonably relies on the colleague for assistance when ill/injured, or for making arrangements for them to be cared for in the event of illness/injury.

Reasonable amount of unpaid time off work to deal with short term family/ emergency situations or to make arrangements for a longer term solution. This is normally no more than 1 or 2 days, regardless of length of service.

Parental Leave

Leave to care for a child aged under 18.

18 weeks' unpaid leave for each child under 18. Leave to be taken in 1 week blocks. Colleagues must give 21 days notice of leave. Leave limited to 4 weeks per year.

Compassionate Leave

Periods of leave to support colleagues undergoing personal difficulties at home such as family illness/death.

A colleague who suffers the loss of a child will be entitled to 2 weeks’ statutory parental bereavement leave (SPBL) while those with six months’ service will also be entitled to statutory pay.

A colleague who suffers the loss of their Mother, Father, a Sibling or Partner may take 5 days leave or 2 days leave for other close relatives such as Grandparents.

Paid or unpaid leave may be granted at Management/HR discretion.

Carer’s Leave

Leave for providing or arranging care for a dependant if they have a long-term care need. 1-week unpaid leave in a rolling 12- month period.

Absence Without Leave (AWOL)

Colleagues who fail to notify their Manager and who are absent from work without good reason, or who fail to maintain regular contact will be treated as AWOL. Formal procedures will be followed.

No no, just a hypothetical. As a new parent.. I've never thought about all the policies at work for leave. But then I thought what if I cant work on Monday, what are my rights. I have read the policy now. And I know where I stand from a company perspective.