Parental Leave

[Leandevil]

Hope someone can helpme. I've asked for one weeks PL when my son goes into hospital next month.Work are not being very helpful so when i asked whether or not it had been granted I was told "Erm I dont think so, not sure who told me but I think they said no on grounds of not having 1 year continious service" this was from my line manager.
The personal manager is off on holidays this week and no other person seems to have a clue what is going on.
i have worked for the company for 4 1/2 years and the only break ive had was maternity leave, I also took the additional 6 month mat leave, but I didnt think this would count as broken service as it was something i was entitled to.

That definitely doesn't count as broken service. From DTI website: "employment can be regarded as continuous in spite of short breaks. For example, absence from work because of sickness or pregnancy, paternity or adoption leave, temporary lay-off and holiday breaks all count automatically, provided the employment contract continues throughout. "

The fallback scheme (which you can rely on if it's more favourable than whatever your employer has in place) says that you can take leave in blocks of one week or more (up to a maximum of four weeks in a year for each child) and need to give at least 21 days notice (does not have to be in writing) with the dates when the leave is to start and finish. If your employer considers that your absence would unduly disrupt the business, then they can postpone the leave for up to six months BUT they need to discuss it with you AND give notice of the postponement in writing no later than seven days after your notice to take leave was given to them.

So assuming you gave them notice more than seven days ago and no one has told you in writing that they want to postpone it, you are now entitled to take the parental leave and they can't do anything about it.

Thanks lemonAIIEE, I have given them more than 21 days notice in writing with a copy of the hospital letter, my child is under 5 and have not had any pl so far.They have not given me a written response and it is over 1 week since i requested it, so thay means i can take it then does it?
There are 4 people in my dept on holiday that week but I work in a supermarket with over 200 staff so surely that isnt my problem and they have had enough notice to find cover.

Yes, that means you can take it.

To cover yourself, I'd send them a letter in writing stating something like:

Dear [Whoever],

I have worked for [company] since (joining date) and have continuous service since then. I was on maternity leave from [date] until [date] but have checked with the DTI and this does not affect my "continuos employment" status.

On [date] I gave you notice in writing of a hospital stay for my son [name], date of birth [DOB] and requested parental leave from [date] to [date].

Under the current parental leave fallback scheme, which parents can rely on in cases where an employer does not have a parental leave policy or where the fallback scheme is more generous than the employer's scheme, you could as my employers postpone the parental leave by up to six months if my absence would unduly disrup the business, but would have to give notice of the postponement in writing no later than seven days after my notice of intention to take parental leave was given, i.e. by [date 7 days after you gave them notice].

I have received no such written notice of postponement, so am writing to confirm that I shall definitely be taking parental leave from [date] to [date], returning to work on [date].

Yours sincerely,

Leandevil

Only better if you spell continuous correctly, which I signally failed to do...

And "disrupt", not "disrup". I'm not having a good spelling day...

fantastic thankyou.