special leave to look after sick child

[jaylime]

mornin,i have had to take a day off tommorow as my daughter has chicken pox and cant go to nursery.i texted our manager las night saying i wouldnt be in on wed to give him more tame to find cover as its my day off today.i recieved a text this morning asking to phone them asap.i phoned back and was told tough no cover,they wernt happy with me texting and basically that i was out of order and how dare i ask fo a day off.but i know my rights and i am entitled by law to a certain amount of time off up till the child is five years old,i mentioned this and silence and stuttering on the other end.anyway i got my day off but i wass disgusted at the managers attitude has anyone else encountered this.

[not me]

mornin,i have had to take a day off tommorow as my daughter has chicken pox and cant go to nursery.i texted our manager las night saying i wouldnt be in on wed to give him more tame to find cover as its my day off today.i recieved a text this morning asking to phone them asap.i phoned back and was told tough no cover,they wernt happy with me texting and basically that i was out of order and how dare i ask fo a day off.but i know my rights and i am entitled by law to a certain amount of time off up till the child is five years old,i mentioned this and silence and stuttering on the other end.anyway i got my day off but i wass disgusted at the managers attitude has anyone else encountered this.

well have to say my dom saw me right when my boy was in hospital
i took a week off and got paid for it under special leave
however i was taking the time off regardless of being paid.
kids come first!!
i would be having a word with that manager when i returned to work

[mailmonkey]

Yes, same situation...

Was told that perhaps my wife should be the one taking time off too.....despite the fact she earns more than twice what I earn so we'd lose more pay that way.......

Generally made to feel like you're taking the piss, when you ain't.....

MM

[jaylime]

aye he said can i not sort something out between now and wed,both my parents work as do all our friends,my wife is taking thurs off to look after her.plus if your child is ill im sure he/she would rather be with a parent than anyone else.the management just done give a toss about peoples circumstances all there interested is are coming in to work i.e. save me the hassle of trying to get cover for you.ps i have brought up staffing issues in our office and was told we had enough staff obviously not.

[farmhousecider]

20 years ago when my daughter was born she was having trouble staying alive so i was up the hospital a week,i got some messages of support from the lads and flowers etc and i got got docked a weeks wages!! ...i had a near death experiance when i heard that!...glad to see things have changed......oh,they havent!!! (im sure they have a bit)

[without_a_paddle]

Yes, same situation...

Was told that perhaps my wife should be the one taking time off too.....despite the fact she earns more than twice what I earn so we'd lose more pay that way.......

Generally made to feel like you're taking the piss, when you ain't.....

MM

This is exactly what happened to me.

My 14 month old son suffered a cerebral convulsion and started foaming at the mouth, at which point he stopped breathing.
He was rushed to hospital and transferred to a specialist ward for observation. At this point, I wasn't aware of the right to unpaid parental leave so the next day (my day off) I rang my manager at the earliest opportunity to explain the situation,
and that I would like to request Special Leave without pay.

The manager replied "Your wife's already at the hospital, I don't see why both of you need to take time off to be with your son."

There's a lot more to this, and we had a row over the phone, but that's the upshot.

I think both of our managers went to the same finishing school, mate.

Makes you wonder whether certain gaffers have their brains wired wrong, especially how they can remain so cold and calculating when you're suffering from a personal family trauma.

[DGP1]

I thought this was what lapsing was supposed to be for to help cover short term absenses.

[island_boy]

mornin,i have had to take a day off tommorow as my daughter has chicken pox and cant go to nursery.i texted our manager las night saying i wouldnt be in on wed to give him more tame to find cover as its my day off today.i recieved a text this morning asking to phone them asap.i phoned back and was told tough no cover,they wernt happy with me texting and basically that i was out of order and how dare i ask fo a day off.but i know my rights and i am entitled by law to a certain amount of time off up till the child is five years old,i mentioned this and silence and stuttering on the other end.anyway i got my day off but i wass disgusted at the managers attitude has anyone else encountered this.

the highlighted bit is your mistake, as it you effectively cancelled out your legal rights, you should have waited till the moring and then told him, i can see how you were trying to help him out but thats what could have caused you your problems


from the working time regulations
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ ... G_10026555" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Your right to time off for dependants
If you are an 'employee', you have the right to unpaid time off work to deal with emergencies involving a 'dependant' – this could be your husband, wife, partner, child, parent, or anyone living in your household as a member of the family. A dependant may also be anyone who reasonably relies on you for help in an emergency, for example an elderly neighbour living alone who falls and breaks a leg and you are the closest on hand.

When the right doesn't apply

The right only covers emergencies and so doesn't apply if you know about the event in advance (you informed your dim in advance instead of wqaiting till wednesday). For example, if you want time off to take your child into hospital in a week's time the right doesn't apply, although you may be able to take it as parental leave instead.

Parental Leave (you are entitled to 13 weeks unpaid leave in the childs first 5 years)

Parental leave schemes
Wherever possible, employers and employees should make their own agreements about how parental leave will work in a workplace, but if this is not possible the following 'fallback scheme' applies automatically. The terms of your workplace agreement cannot be less favourable than the fallback scheme.

Always check your contract of employment or staff handbooks for your employers own parental leave scheme, this could offer you special arrangements that are better than the fallback scheme (for example, you might be able to take parental leave even if you've worked there for less than a year or if you are the grandparents, step-parents or long term foster parent of the child).
The fallback scheme
One week blocks
You must take your leave in blocks of full weeks(you would have had to ask for a full week off), so if you want time off in odd days - for example, to take your child to the dentist - you should ask your employer if you can work flexibly or use your holiday allowance.

[doveston]

lmfao,you texted the manager.i wouldn't give rm my number if i was on fire.

[Spedley]

I had a day off a couple of weeks ago because my child minder had to take her son to hospital.

I phoned up and they pointed out that I wouldn't get paid for 'Special Leave C' but I could have a couple of days if I needed them. As bad as our place usually is, they'd obviously been there before.