DH new job

[ash646668]

Hello all,
After searching google and gov.uk website for about a week now with no clear info, I have resigned myself to asking. DH started a new job the day I found out I was pregant, I would have only been 4/5 weeks when finding out so he had already interviewed and accepted the job before we knew. I understand he would not be eligible for paternity pay due to not been with his employer long enough but would his employer be able to refuse him unpaid time off after the birth. This will be our first after trying for 8 year. It seems most protections for fathers to have off after the birth is tied to how long you have been with the company, which he simply wont have been there long enough. I have seen people talking about parental leave however it seems you need to be employed for a year with them to qualify. If anyone has been through something similar or has any info with regarding this it would be much appreciated.

Im not very fluent on the Uk legislation, but Im pretty sure your statutory right to paternity leave has nothing to do with how long you have been employed.
Thats for full pay leave.
He will be entitled to 1 or 2 weeks after birth, regardless of how long hes worked there.
Also, that changes from company to company, it is not a one size fits all!

Says quite clearly here your statutory right to paternity leave is if you’ve been employed for 26 weeks before the qualifying week. The qualifying week is 15 weeks before your due date

https://www.gov.uk/paternity-pay-leave/eligibility

I am so surprised by the fact paternity leave is tied to employment!! Pay I understand but there seems to be no differentiation between pay and leave. That’s annoying!

I guess any employer can refuse requested time off at any point but you’d think/hope they wouldn’t. I’m sure if your husband explains the circumstances and offers to either take holiday or unpaid leave, a reasonable employer would accommodate that. As it’s not “paternity leave” he isn’t bound by the timings of when this conversation needs to take place if he was planning to wait to discuss it etc etc

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

He doesn't have any entitlement to statutory leave, but that doesn't mean his employer won't let him take some - all he can do is ask. And possibly take some annual leave?

Paternity pay is rubbish for most men, my partner never took it, would loose too much money. There is always an option of annual leave.

Maybe wait and see which due date they give you just in case!
They may also make an exception as he had accepted the job before you fell pregnant - its worth asking

Thanks all for the responses, we are aware he wont get any paternity pay we understand that and that's fine. It was more to find out if legally his employer could prevent him from taking a week off after the birth, either through annual leave or just unpaid time off. It seems that it really is down to his employers discretion which is disappointing.

It might be worth him reading his contract and checking the Shared Parental Leave section (separate to the paternity one). He might be there long enough for that (depending on what it says in his work contract).

A lot of contracts are having the enhanced pay section equalised for men and women. So in my company, men and women are entitled to six months full pay. My partner got five months full pay at his company for our first. He's at a new company now and will get four months full pay for this next one. Out of my antenatal group of ten babies, probably seven got shared leave on enhanced pay.

Just highlighting because we didn't realise at the time until someone told us - previously my partner looked at the paternity section and thought he just got two weeks as standard. The shared leave section was a few pages on.

Obviously depends on what the eligibility is at his company to qualify for the enhanced section as we've found that can vary too, and they can have some discretion

congratulations! I’m not sure they can “legally” stop him taking annual or unpaid leave, but leave is at the discretion of the employer. Has he actually discussed with his manager / HR? You seem to be very worried about this, but I can’t see why an employer would refuse thus request, it’s in their interest to be accommodating surely.

Ill be honest when he accepted the job he was essentially promised certain things such as guaranteed days off and finishing times. Which is slowly becoming apparent they do not intend to stick to. We works in hospitality as a chef and that industry, at the very least with his luck, doesnt really care about life work balance. Due to it taking us so long to conceive and our age getting on there is a chance this will be our only child and I really dont want him to miss out on this time.

We had the same issue. From what we could tell they can refuse it if not been there long enough for parental leave to kick in. They did let my partner book 2 weeks annual leave though with no problem as no one else had booked that time off as yet. Does mean if baby wasn’t to come on time or early there could be more hassle though. I’m having a planned c section (today) so was a bit easier.

I don’t think they can stop him being at the birth though but that’s an assumption I’m making I haven’t been able to find anything official.