Hi - I am curently on adoption leave with second child. Due to go back end July.beg of August. However, this adoption has not been straightforward - we were told baby was fine/happy but actually he was/is far from it. has come on a lot but not at all ready for me to leave him.
I am/was a board director in a smallish (30 employees) company and have worked there 12 years.
Went to see boss explained situation said that ideally I would like to take an additional 6 mth sabbatical and come back 3 days but understood might not be feasible, could he see what he could do.
3 weeks later got an e-mail basically saying yes he could do that but while I am off I would lose all my employment rights (e.g. to redundancy) also v vague about what my job would be. In other words he is saying i need to leave and then reapply for my job and that when I start work again I would start from scratch.
He has made no effort to consider alternatives at all.
No wondering what to do - do I suggest alternatives to him like could I take 2 months parental leave (can take up to 4 weeks per year per child) and then come back or could I come back 2 days in August and build up to 3 and possibly 4. Or do you think best to just leave to him.
He is a right weasel and he hates being beholden to employees - also has no kids and hates anthing to do with them.
here is his e-mail , pretending to be helpful
hanks for coming in recently to explain why it would be preferable for you not to return to work until, at the earliest, February next year, and also that when you return you would envisage working at most a three day week. I do appreciate the challenge you face and we want to help you as best we can. However, as you are aware, adoption leave is available to you for 12 months, after which you need to return to work in order to continue to maintain your employment rights.
So, if you need to take time out until next year and not return to work, we can certainly agree to that but only, of course, on the basis that your employment will not continue in the interim period. But, because we want to be able rely on your skills in the future, we will try our best to find you as similar as possible a role, when you are able to return, and if this is not available at the time, then a suitable alternative if available. Obviously, it is impossible at this stage to be specific about the exact job, and whether this can be agreed on a part time basis because, as you well know, things are changing so rapidly in the industry and the resourcing demands on the Company are becoming ever greater.
Therefore, if we we proceed this way, a fresh agreement would then be put in place, as your employment rights like redundancy and right-to-return, and accrued benefits such as holiday allowance, will necessarily lapse at the end of the 12 month adoption leave period, as they must for any member of staff.