Hospital appointments

[user4566676]

I have a long term health condition that requires regular monitoring so I have hospital appointments fairly regularly. I have been told that I can either use holiday, lieu time or take the leave as unpaid.
My colleague's son is having regular appointments for the next 6 weeks so my colleague will need time off to take him to the appointment. She is having this paid.
Should it be the same rule for both of us?

No. Hers is a temp change to accommodate a short term problem. Yours is permanent.

Are you classed as disabled at work? Could they accommodate your appointments by allowing you to work longer on other days to make the timer back?

I am guessing the difference is that your colleague's situation is short term and they may not have any input in the scheduling of the appointments. Can you organise them so you don't need to take long off?

@cansu Yes I try and organise them for the afternoon so only need to finish about an hour early. Most are on my day off.
Although mine is a long term problem I have only needed 5 appointments in work time in the past year which I have used lieu time for. So my colleague is having 6 appointments paid in the next six weeks and I had 5 appointments unpaid in a year.

What do they say when you ask why the difference?

@Matchingcollarandcuffs Yes I am classed as disabled. I use lieu time for my appointments.

I suppose you could raise this with them. I can see why it would be annoying. I would however also have a think about whether you have had any other flexibility in the past. Where I work (school so an academy trust), there is a policy about what is allowed and what is not. In reality, there is a significant amount of leeway from the head on how various things are categorised. As they have been flexible with me in the past, I am flexible now. I have on occasion done some unpaid bits and pieces. However, if there were any hint that the flexibility didn't work both ways, I would be all over any hint of unfairness.

@Matchingcollarandcuffs
I was told because it was a childcare issue and that my colleague works full time so can't make the time back. she can't use holiday because she needs that for school holidays.

I would also be looking up whether being disabled changes the terms at all. It might do.

Your update makes it sound like your colleague is being treated more leniently than you. Her need for school hols off isn't really relevant to whether you have paid time off.

those reasons should not be relevant. Mat/adoption leave aside its not allowed to treat childless or part time employees differently from fultime or parents.

I was probably on the fence with the until you said she can't use holiday because she needs that for school holidays...
You can loose holiday time BECAUSE you don't have kids.... that's appalling!

I would absolutely challenge this it is likely discrimination given you are disabled It is certainly unfair given you are the patient where as hers is just a child who someone else could take (although she'll likely say there is noone else - but that's not your problem!)

I think (not 100% sure) that there is such a thing as disability leave for hospital appts.

However you are being treated less favourably than your colleague despite having a disability, so you are being discriminated against.

Have you spoken to HR or occupational health? I have long term health issues and was sent to occupational health for assessment. They said (and I didn’t ask) I should be classified as disabled and covered by equality act and any time I needed for related medical appointments should not count as sick leave, I’d should be paid and ignored.

I have appointments and I can take time off but I make the time up at other times, this is the same for everyone though

Sorry leave should be paid and ignored

Yep, leave should be paid and granted under the Equality Act.

Are you part time?

I would get this in writing. They can’t treat part time employees less favourably

I would challenge that. The company I work for would pay me for time off for hospital appointments. They wouldn’t pay for the parent for her child’s appointments. The parent isn’t sick and the appointment isn’t even for her. However, Is she claiming some sort of parental leave that the company has in operation?

Yes I would expect appointments for a disability or long term condition to be paid where it is not possible to schedule outside working time. For a dependant short term possibly not but discretionary. What does your absence policy state?

@LIZS all hospital appointments should be arranged outside of working hours if possible. If not possible time should be taken as lieu, holiday or unpaid leave.

I think that’s a harsh policy. People don’t go to hospital for fun. If you work full time, all appointments are going to be in working hours generally. If you are sick or disabled, you might need your annual leave regularly to recuperate. And equally, working in lieu is going to take it out of you even more. Sick and disabled people tend to be financially more precarious than other people, so yet again, the company suggesting you take unpaid leave all contributes to this. If your hospital appointment is some distance and time away you could use up a good part of a day. A lot of these reasons may apply to single parents with the care of small children too, so how they can pay one and not the other is baffling.

There is no legal requirement placed on an employer to grant paid time off to attend medical appointments.
There's sadly no ekgak requirements for a disabilities leave policy, though some have to show reasonable adjustments usually to do with how the leave is recorded, so not going down as sick leave.
I'm longterm disabled and take my appointments in my own time or swap my hours around to accommodate. I don't think that your situation is comparable as you're talking disabled employee versus carer employee and the two should not be confused, though I understand the sentiment of your post. Most employees allow upto a weeks paid leave for carer responsibilities. I would imagine this is why she's having her time paid.
Don't confuse.apples and pears

If she’s making the time back then that’s time in lieu.

@user4566676 if you are deemed disabled I am pretty sure any time off for that disability needs to be paid time off

You’re not comparing like with like. Yours are your own medical appointments and hers are carers leave. You need to look at both policies. Legally I don’t think they have to pay either of you so it comes down to local policies. Some places make a distinction between bookable and non bookable appointments and it sounds like yours are bookable. And sometimes it’s at line manager discretion