Paternity Leave question

[ladymia]

In terms of the formalities/practicalities for this....

Should my OH give notice that he plans to take PL? When should this be done by and will anything need to be submitted to them at the same time?

What do you people generally do? Take it from the due date?

I am really unsure how this all works!

He needs to see his works paternity leave policy, and speak to them, but there is a form that they will give him to complete - they may require other information in writing, depends on what their policy is, but he's best off speaking to his boss in the first instance.

These are helpful:

www.dad.info/work/paternity-leave/who-s-eligible-and-how-do-i-get-it

www.dad.info/work/paternity-leave/how-long-and-how-much/

I agree with Ellypoo that that the best thing to do is to speak to his boss. He will need to give some notice, but I can't remember exactly how much off the top of my head.

The difficulty with paternity leave is that naturally most fathers want to take it from the day the baby's born, but it's difficult to predict when that will be! Hopefully his work will be understanding and allow him some flexibility with dates.

Thinking of paternity leave always reminds me of the delightful gentleman at work a year or so back who took an unauthorised holiday. On his return, he turned up at the HR department to say he wanted to claim this as paternity leave. "When was the baby born?" I asked. He responded, "Oh it's not born yet. It's not due for another two months."

Just to check all angles before shooting him, I asked if his partner had been having problems with the pregnancy. Had she needed him to look after her? He looked at me as if I was completely mad: "No, she's fine. I just wanted to take paternity leave early." Needless to say, he wasn't employed for very long afterwards. And I hope the mother got shot of him quick.

x posted with Hippy there, so her links should explain the notice period required.

Read the form properly. You can either say you want it from a set date, which must be after the baby is born. OR you can say you want it from the day the baby is born, which no one can be certain of.

ExDH was in the police when our two were born, they too wanted a set date, I pointed out they need to read the form properly.

He needs an SC3 form, just enter it into Google and print one off, he needs to let them know at least 15 weeks before the due date.

thanks so much for all the advice. think we've sorted it now! :)