Medical appts and time off work

[Chocol8]

I am wondering if anyone can help me in what is becoming a real bone of contention at work?

I work for a charity for 30 hours a week (single mum) Mon-Fri 6 hours with no lunch break so i can take/collect ds from school.

More recently i have physio appts for my back, however i am expected to take these of as time off in lieu or make the time up (which is impossible).

Do i have any rights at all? Can i not have time off for medical appts? It is especially hard for me to arrange childcare as my son has special needs.

The 'rules' have changed a few times along with the management.
The HR person said that annual leave should be used to cover medical appts as "that is what they are for". Is she right please? If she is, i'll accept it but any chance she's wrong, i'll take it further.

i have to do the same

its all down to your line manager in my place. the only real exception is if the treatment is as result of injury at work then it's covered within the working day.

How did you get the bad back?

Depends on your terms and conditions/contract of employment. Does the company have a policy relating to time off? If so, it should be covered under there.

I'm surprised they aren't insisting that you make the effort to arrange the appointments out of working hours.

It sounds as though they aren't stopping you, you have no right to it being paid (unless it says so in your terms and conditions) so really they are accomodating you in allowing you to go.

Do you know what happens with other people/locations if applicable?

Hope you get it sorted, back trouble is awful

Thanks for your replies - i've had my back problem for well over 20 years from leaning over a drawing board (ooer). It's no fun though, i can't get out of bed without doing painful exercises every morning and is a problem that isn't just going to go away sadly.

My point with this is, i can make appts for the doctor, dentist, opticians etc outside of work hours, but a physio at the hospital works less hours than me, so i have no choice but to go during my working day.

I have cancelled 2 previous appts now - 1 due to ill health and the other due to work commitments, so am on my last chance of being taken off the list for the physio.

My line manager won't give me the time off paid so i guess i'm stuffed.

So it your current job "leaning over a drawing board"? What I am getting at, is (or has) the job itself contributing to the back problems?

Prettybird - no, i work at a pc all day running a website now.