Accommodating staff with disabled children

[Clinkyclunk]

I have a difficult issue with a member of my staff and want to see if I am being unreasonable or not.

Staff member has disabled children and has not been in work for several weeks this year. They’ve depleated all their special paid leave that we offer for caring for dependents and emergencies which is 10 days and trying to be good employers we’ve accommodated the rest on full pay. Absence is usually because the children are ill or have a hospital appointment or has to leave early to pick them up from school as the children are not coping at school. This all adds up to a huge number of hours missed just this week alone.

It’s got to the stage where we cannot accommodate any more time off. I’ve suggested the individual reduce their hours and have the flexibility to work hours and days that fit around appointments etc. However this has been met with the argument that they can’t afford to reduce their hours as they wouldn’t be able to afford their mortgage. Now I empathise with this, but unfortunately this isn’t my problem - is it?

We are not getting the hours we are paying the individual for. It does not make business sense to employ this person, which upsets me as I want to offer opportunities no matter someone’s circumstances. At the moment it’s all give on our part with no willingness to address this issue.

So what would you do?

I might be wrong but I think after 2 years service parents of disabled children accrue a right to take additional unpaid parental leave versus parents of children without disabilities.

You sound like a good and decent employer, I think if you can keep dialogue open it might lead to a creative solution.

You can’t force her to drop her hours, but you can stop paying her. In the first instance I’d do that and explain whilst you’re willing to be as accomodating as possible, given she’s already more than exceeded her paid entitlement any future leave for the kids will need to be unpaid (until such time as the entitlement to the paid leave starts again) and take it from there. If she’s not getting paid she might find a way to start improving her attendance.

If not you might need to have a conversation with her about managing her absence under your absence policy. Given she has disabled children it might be reasonable to accept her absence may be higher than the average for the business, and she is also entitled to reasonable time off in an emergency situation involving a dependant, but if her absence remains unacceptable it may be reasonable to take formal action against her. Usually warnings first though rather than going straight to dismissal.

To add - if her kids are in receipt of DLA She has the right to take 4 weeks unpaid parental leave a year. Where it differs from other parents is that she has the right to do this over odd days instead of chunks of one week.

www.gov.uk/parental-leave/entitlement

I think she is allowed four weeks unpaid so suggest you follow legal requirements and then see what happens. I totally get where you are coming from you are a business and need the employee in the business and it does sound like you are trying to offer alternative suggestions.

I think you still need to give notice of parental leave, even if for disabled children, albeit as PP said she can take it in odd days, so it might work for appointments.

I agree it sounds like you've behaved very reasonably and a flexible employment contract would be best for her. Has she used up all her annual leave too?

I'd explain simply she has used up her paid leave and that from now on she either books unpaid parental leave in advance or uses unpaid time off to deal with emergencies. Unpaid either way.

I'm a parent with a disabled child who works so hoping I can give you thoughts from my side of it.

Does employee need to be in work to work? Can they work remotely? Is the work they need to do done?

I work 4 days a week flexi so I switch days around to cover appointments. I work remotely a lot which covers those illness days. I also keep a time sheet of evening/weekend/extra days to evidence how I'm managing my time.

I'm currently looking at moving jobs and this is a real worry part for me because I know how well I have it set up right now.

In terms of what I want from my employee is a clear process of what can/can't be done but also the empowerment to trust me to do the job in a way that works for me.

I have a child with disabilities. I work full-time - I teach - but I have struck gold with an employer who gives flexibility when I need it outside core hours. My attendance has never ducked below 97% across 12 months & often higher, but that’s because they are flexible with me. In return I work evenings and weekends & pick up extra wherever I can. So I have just come off SLT this academic year, but part of every evening this week has been used to give support & advice to SLT on matters I still have at my fingertips. This kind of credit in the back works wonders when I need give in the system. So like the previous poster I would say that what I have needed is less masses of absence (although some, yes) & more the flexibility to structure the work to suit what I can do. As far as practical in a school of course!

They’ve depleated all their special paid leave that we offer for caring for dependents and emergencies which is 10 days and trying to be good employers we’ve accommodated the rest on full pay.

Now that’s a rod for your own back.

they can’t afford to reduce their hours as they wouldn’t be able to afford their mortgage. Now I empathise with this, but unfortunately this isn’t my problem - is it?

No, it isn’t. Lay out the options to them, tell them you can’t accomodate any further paid time off. Let them bring the solution to you.

Get proper advice, ACAS or a HR consultant.

You sound like very understanding and accommodating, but it seems like the employee is taking advantage of that by not working with your suggestions or coming up with their own workarounds. They can't reasonably expect unlimited paid leave, which is effectively what they're expecting, regardless of their personal circumstances.

I work 4 days a week flexi so I switch days around to cover appointments

My own child has autism, this is one of the reasons I work 4 days (and took the salary hit) too. I have a set day off but I can swap or split my day off into 2 half days. I have an accommodating and understanding boss so I am very lucky but I also know I have to prioritise Work as well x

OP I agree with the PP. Ultimately there’s no impact on your employee just now of their actions and no incentive for her to change, so you’ll need to be the one to effect change.

I have severely disabled child who had 45% attendance last year plus the average 5 appointments a month...no one would employ me. He only sleeps a few hours per night so I get 2-3 max.
We now have 28,000 less a year..but do get carers allowance.....whoop whoop We sold our house and moved into rented !!!

I think that flexibility is the way to go. Has she said why she doesn't want to do that? If there are parts of her job that can be done at home or otherwise outside of regular hours she could "pay" the time back that way.

My employer would try to be similarly flexible, aside from offering paid time off whenever needed. You aren’t being unreasonable for wanting to stop paying for the hours not being done, and I agree with others that she isn’t going to come up with solutions in the current situation.

Do you offer flexible working? Can any of the work be done remotely? Is the employee underperforming as a result of this? Presumably it is affecting the business as well.

I work 30 hrs over five days in order to have flexibility (no disabled child, I’m accommodating my own disabilities!) and my employer is über flexible so long as I get my work done properly and make myself available for meetings etc, most of which can now be done remotely anyway.

You are a business and not a charity. It sounds like you have tried to be accommodating but you need to take a harder line. I don’t want to sound hard nosed, but it isn’t your business as to whether she can afford her mortgage or not.

Make sure your document EVERYTHING in case this goes pear shaped.

You are not being unreasonable. As an employer you are not obliged to pay someone to do a job that they don't have the capacity to do. Accommodating emergencies is different and flexibility is important but ultimately if her caring commitments do not allow her to fulfil her contracted hours under normal predictable circumstances then she is demanding way more than reasonable accommodation.

PP above correct that you need to document everything, and make sure you follow regulations to the letter.

You need to set it down in writing asap that your previous payments for what should have been unpaid leave were a kindness, that you were under no obligation to do, and you made no commitment to continue that.

Henceforth every absence needs to be defined in writing signed by her and her line manager as to whether it is to be taken as annual leave, sick leave, parental leave or whatever.

If you don't already have a watertight absence management and disciplinary policy, get it drafted now. You will need professional advice as this is a minefield.

Under the equalities act (not the DDA anymore) those related to a disabled person are also covered so be prepared for a discrimination claim.

Under the equalities act (not the DDA anymore) those related to a disabled person are also covered so be prepared for a discrimination claim

Discrimination by association is covered but from what she’s posted I don’t think it’s a significant risk here. Still worth being mindful of, of course.

Discrimination would be "I refuse to give this person a job as their caring responsibilities will prevent them being an effective employee". Lots of brilliant people with caring responsibilities are quite capable of juggling the needs of their family members with the requirements of an employer without letting either down. So it would be discrimination to assume that someone was incapable of achieving this. The employee in the OP has already proven herself incapable of this. That's the difference.

The OP wanting to employ someone who can do their job is not discrimination.

If an employee is or becomes disabled and is fired or treated less favourably that's discrimination. Reasonable adjustments like flexibility of working hours and increased allowance for zero-notice unpaid leave to deal with emergencies are appropriate. BUT if a person's disability stops them doing the job at all and no reasonable adjustment can make it possible to do their job (eg if a bus driver loses their vision) then it is not discrimination to fire them. In this situation a reasonable person would agree they could no longer do the job required of them.

The employee of the OP clearly cannot do the job that she is contracted for. She is contracted to work X hours in a month but is only actually available to work half X hours. Her expectations of being paid for X hours whilst doing half that is not a reasonable accommodation - it is taking the piss.

It would be discrimination actually if a driver lost their job due to losing their vision because the employer should look at placing them into another role within the company instead.

It would be discrimination actually if a driver lost their job due to losing their vision because the employer should look at placing them into another role within the company instead.

That isn’t always possible.

Also the person who has the disability isn't the one being employed so not sure how it's relevant anyway.

actually in the majority of cases it is possible.

Unless you have a disability and are qualified in equalities legislation like myself then you are demonstrating ignorance and an unwillingness to consider alternative options.

There's a blind passenger plane pilot that was in the news a few years back by the way.

The OP is not disabled, that's true, but it's still relevant as adjustments still need to be considered instead of going straight to the easy option - dismissal. An alternative role with more flexibility / less hours / closer location could be an option.

An alternative role with more flexibility / less hours / closer location could be an option.

This is my bread and butter work. It depends entirely on the organisation concerned. It absolutely should always be considered, but it’s not always going to be possible to accommodate.

“An alternative role with more flexibility / less hours / closer location could be an option.”

The OP has already suggested reducing the employee’s hours which was refused. Yes adjustments need to be considered, but reasonable adjustments. The OP is likely running a small to medium sized business and she might not have alternative office space etc to offer.

She hasn’t given any indication she’s trying to move to dismissal, she’s gone above and beyond to try and support the staff member by continuing to pay her full pay when she’s under no obligation to.

You can't stop her taking parental leave if she hasnt taken the 4 weeks worth but you don't have to pay her.
My boss of 4 years only paid me for 2 days of leave when disabled DS had surgery. He allowed me to work extra to make up the time taken off and generously gave me 12 months to pay the time back.
Like pp, I work 4 days so I've got the flexibility to attend appointments for DS without taking time off.