Does anybody out there know the details of the Parental Leave Policy which entitles employees who have a child under the age of five (sixteen if they are disabled I think), to unpaid periods of leave, upto a maximum of 16 weeks. Our company guidelines state this needs to be booked within four weeks of wanting to take the unpaid leave.
In the past two years I have taken between two and four weeks unpaid leave each year to enhance our family life. Between my DH and I, we have 13 weeks' worth of school holidays to cover and unless I take the unpaid leave, we cover opposite days and rarely get to spend 'family' time together.
This year, I applied and was turned down by my Line Manager who said it wasn't viable for the business. I haven't yet gone to HR as don't want to appear bolshy but I truly don't think it's my Line Manager's decision to make. It's not like I'm asking for an extra four weeks off with pay!
So this year, we have managed to scrape by a whole 7 days off during the summer holidays, as a family of four.
Does anybody have any ideas? Apologies if this is really long...I'm a Mumsnet Virgin! 