Time off for daughters illness

A question about : Time off for daughters illness

Hi

My sister is in full-time employment. Her 13 year old daughter was ill for 2 days last week. She took off 2 days to look after her. her employer has now told me that she has to take the 2 days as holiday - can they do that? She wanted to keep the 2 days for family holiday later in the year.

I believe she will have a contract as she has worked for the same business for around 5 years - but I don't know any details as to what may be in that contract.

My sister also has to go for some tests at the hospital soon - genetic testing to see if she has a potentially life threatening disease that runs in the family.

Can her employer make her take this as holiday too?

Is there no such thing as 'compassionate leave'?

Thanks,

RD

Best answers:

• In short the employer is right, she would have had the right to take time off to sort out alternate arrangements to care for her daughter but there is not right to have the time off so holiday is fair or she could ask to have it unpaid.
  Doctors appointments are holidays unless she is covered by the equality act and then it could be seen as a reasonable adjustment. Edit to add: Appointments that are pregnancy related also are allowed.
  There is no legal right to compassionate leave.
• Compassionate leave tends to be for things such as a death in the family or serious illness.
  2 days off to look after a sick child would definitely be expected to come out of holiday entitlement. Does she really think she should get paid and still keep all her holiday entitlement on top? Sick leave is to cover the employee when they are ill, not for random family members. It would cost a fortune if a company gave extra leave every time anyone had a sick kid. Of course your sister could always ask for unpaid leave for the two days.
  As far as the time off for her hospital appt, I don't think the employer is required to give time off (unless pregnancy related) - but even if they do, they may still ask her to take it as holiday. She needs to check her employers handbook.
• I don't think her employer can make her take it as holiday - but if she doesn't, they don't have to pay her.
  If she'd rather have unpaid leave than holiday, her employer should be able to arrange that if she asks.
  There's more information here.
• Her entitlement in respect of her daughter is to "short" (which the law doesn't define) periods of unpaid leave to deal with "emergency" (which is also not defined) situations with a dependent.
  The normal interpretation is the minimum time necessary to make arrangements rather than time to do the caring herself.
  So, she could almost certainly take the first day as unpaid leave under these circumstances and possibly the second but probably no more.
  It is also worth noting that, if she has a husband or partner, her employer could reasonably expect this type of situation to be equally shared between them. There is an obvious temptation for the lower paid partner to take the time off but their employer could rightly object to this.
  Her own hospital appointments would normally have to be taken as holiday.
• As has already been said, there may be an option to take it as unpaid absence rather than using up annual leave. There is absolutely no requirement for the employer to pay for absence caused by the illness of a 3rd party. Where would it end? Every time a kid had a cold or belly ache there would be absolutely no reason for the parent to come in to work.
  Having children is a lifestyle choice and ALL the ramifications of so doing need to be taken into account before having them.
• Sick leave is for when the employee is sick. Compassionate leave isn't an entitlement and is usually restricted to serious and rare events such as a bereavement or hospitalisation of a partner or child. When your child is sick you are usually expected to take annual leave or unpaid leave and to find a way to return to work as soon as possible.
  Planned medical appointments should be taken in your own time where possible. Most employers will allow you to take some in work time where unavoidable, but if it's more than half a day then most employers would expect you to use annual leave or sick leave if you have none.
  All of this is the case where I work and I work for an understanding and flexible employer, so I'd imagine some people might actual have things worse and can even find their jobs at risk for taking time off to care for a sick child.
• It is her RIGHT to have the first day off to deal with an emergency (can be unpaid, and should not have to come out of holiday. Some employers, but not many nowadays, might pay the very occasional day off for such an emergency.) She cannot be forced to take this day as holiday and can claim it as unpaid leave instead.
  https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights
  It is ARGUABLE that the same might apply to the second day, especially if, for example, she had made cover arrangements on day 1 and these broke down at short notice. However, the first day of sickness would normally be considered ample time for a parent to put other caring arrangements in place. (Don't shoot the messenger - this is just what the law believes!)
  It may also be the employer's right to INSIST that these 2 days are unpaid, and that her A/L is an entirely separate issue.
  There is no requirement for an employer to provide paid compassionate leave, even for serious cases such as a sudden death.
• JM -where does it state that?
  i.e. it's a legal right to have the 1st day off etc.
  I've never heard of it and thought I was pretty well clued up on HR issues.
  My company would have given CL however thats not a legal requirement as others have correctly said.
• Its called dependants leave - unpaid and limited to the time taken to "arrange" necessary care, not time needed to actually provide care. Obviously if only one day of actual care is needed then so be it.
• I've added a link. Time off for emergencies (which I believe includes arranging care for a suddenly sick child). Re-reading, I may be exaggerating even saying the first day is allowable - if you live a 10 min walk from work and are able to arrange care in an hour, then that's all you're actually entitled to, but I am not aware of any employers arguing against the first day.
• Thanks for that.
  As I say -we would give CL for certainly the 1st occurrence per year so we've never heard of this.
  https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants/your-rights
  I don't doubt it would certainly affect an employees 'employability' however if it became a regular thing, however unfortunate that might be though.
• Some years ago I worked in an office with a woman who would book all her holiday dates at the start of the year and then phone in sick any time one of the kids was sick. She was finally rumbled and it was suggested to her that maybe she should find employment more suited to her life style needs.