Time off when the kids are ill... leave issues...

[minko]

I have just started a new job, it is 5 days a week, 9-4. I get 20 days hols a year. I asked for 5 extra unpaid days but that was denied. I have also found out that if my kids are ill I have to take that as holiday too. I was hoping they might make that unpaid leave. Basically it means that I will only be able to work for the company till my leave runs out which is a bugger as I really like the job! I can see I'll hardly have enough days for a fortnights holiday next summer let alone anything else.

Are there any laws about this sort of thing???

If you work 5 days a week you are entitled to 28 days, not 20. (Unless you get bank hols on top of the 20?) here

Plus you are entitled to unpaid leave for emergencies such as ill children, for a couple of days each time anyway. here

I do get bank holidays off on top of my 20 days. But there has been no mention of unpaid leave for dependents emergencies. For example I have had to ask for a half days holiday to take DD for a hospital appointment. And will have to work the time in lieu to get that leave time back.

I'd urge caution on dependency leave. It is not intended to allow you to take time off to look after your kids when they are ill. It is to deal with an emergency i.e the school calls to say come and collect your child as they are ill. You are expected to then make arrangements for someone else to look after him/her for any time after that, It is not a carte blanche entitlement to time off to look after sick children.

So if there is no one else to look after them, then you have to use your holiday?? I can see how that might be abused but it still doesn't seem fair.

I should also have said that leave is allocated over a leave year in most cases. So for example if you take all your leave in the first six months of theleave year and then decide to leave you will owe the company half of the leave days you have taken. This means they will deduct the appropriate number of days leave from your final salary.

A hospital appointment isn't an emergency minko, so that wouldn't come under emergency dependents' leave, which is for unforeseen emergencies, which can include children's illness, for a day or two until you've sorted alternative arrangements out.

Nothing wrong with having to make up time you take off for an appointment.

Do you expect your children to be ill much? Does their father take turns with you for illness etc?

No I guess a hospital appt. isn't an emergency. It's just very difficult to make time up when I already work 5 days...

My DH's job is the one that pays the mortgage and the bills mine is what pays for 'extras'. I've always felt that it's my job to look after the kids and not expect him to take time off. Not that my kids are ill often though DD is in reception which is quite a bug-prone time...

I need to keep at it to see how it goes but I have a feeling working 5 days a week just isn't going to work out for me...

"I've always felt that it's my job to look after the kids and not expect [DH] to take time off."

Your employer would disagree. It's irrelevant to them how you decide to budget, and your attendance at work is just as important to them as your DH's is to his employer.

If you're working virtually full time it's no more your job to look after the children during work time than it is your DH's.

That's my view but if you and your DH feel differently you may struggle as employers will feel as I do.

I have spent many (over 20) years having a similar amount of leave and managing my children's illnesses whilst working full time. I have always managed, even as a single parent. The trick is to use 1 or 2 weeks leave a year for family holidays, have organised childcare for all other school holidays and keep the rest of the leave for covering the kids illnesses. You will often not need it all and have a lot of leave to take at the end of the leave year. It also
helps to have relatives who will take on ill kids too - although I didn't for a few years.

"My DH's job is the one that pays the mortgage and the bills mine is what pays for 'extras'. I've always felt that it's my job to look after the kids and not expect him to take time off. Not that my kids are ill often though DD is in reception which is quite a bug-prone time..."

My goodness.

I agree with flowery in that your employer would expect employees to treat their job as important... Even if you are only doing it for "extras".

If one of my staff told me their job wasn't as important as their partners and that they should be given unpaid time off without prior notice every time their child was I'll I would find it deeply offensive and seriously question their commitment - in some departments it would be a very big problem in terms of running things. By the same token, I'd be entitled to call them early on a Saturday and say "come to work now" which would also be unreasonable.

Your employers policy seems absolutely fair to me. I can see no reason why an employer should absorb the inconvenience of you taking unpaid leave to care for your children.

What flowery said. I can remember one of my employees telling me she needed yet another day off because husband's job was "too important to take leave to look after the children". I was massively unimpressed. Her contract of employment to do her job was with me, not her husband, and she wasn't doing it.

That said emergency leave when children are sick is a legal entitlement but is unpaid but if your employer is taking the hit every time that's not fair.

If you have a preschool child think about getting a nanny. They take the children when they're sick.