An Employer’s Nightmare
Those of you who have read my recent articles will know that I have talked about the rights of employees to take leave under the ‘family friendly’ provisions. You may also have heard the Government’s plans to extend the family friendly rights. So, I thought it might help to put the current provisions into a practical scenario to show some of the many ways that employees can take time off work.
Bill runs a small shoe shop called Loafers ‘R’ Us and currently employs 6 people. He has recently encountered some employee difficulties.
Susan is a sales assistant and is 5 months’ pregnant. Because Susan has worked for Loafers ‘R’ Us for 6 months she is entitled to take 26 weeks’ paid maternity leave followed by 26 weeks’ unpaid leave.
Susan’s partner Fred also works for Loafers ‘R’ Us. He started work at the same time as Susan. Fred is not the father of the expected baby but wants to take some time off to care for the baby and Susan. As Fred has also worked for Loafers ‘R’ Us for at least 6 months he can take 2 weeks’ paid leave after the baby is born, even though he is not the father.
Another employee, Jane has 3 year old twins. Jane would like to spend more time with the twins before they start at their new school. As Jane has worked for Loafers ‘R’ Us for a year she is entitled to take up to 4 weeks’ unpaid leave, per year per child.
Jane would like to have 3 weeks’ leave but first must give Bill 21 days’ notice of when she would like to start and finish the leave.
Bill receives Jane’s request but unfortunately the first week she would like to take off clashes with the busy half term period and also a large delivery scheduled for that week. Bill is concerned the business will be disrupted if Jane takes her leave then. Bill can write to Jane telling her to postpone her leave for a week.
Meanwhile, Bill’s assistant manager, Gerry, has just informed Bill that his mother has been taken to hospital with a suspected broken hip and he would like some time off to attend to her. Gerry is entitled to a reasonable amount of unpaid time off to deal with the unexpected situation. This right is only to deal with the emergency and make any necessary longer term arrangements. Gerry should be allowed the rest of the day off and possibly the next day, if needed, to deal with the immediate care of his mother. Bill does not have to let Gerry take the next 2 weeks off. If Gerry wants this time off he should make arrangements to take some holiday leave instead.
Bill has just heard the good news his other sales assistant, Ken, has finally been matched with a child for adoption. As Ken has been with Loafers ‘R’ Us for over 6 months he is entitled to 26 weeks’ paid leave and a further 26 weeks’ unpaid leave. Ken will have to notify Bill when the child will be placed with him and when he wishes to start his adoption leave.
Finally, Loafers ‘R’ Us’ Personnel Manager, Lucy, has been so overwhelmed with all these goings on she has decided she can take no more and signs off sick with stress. Where does this leave Bill and his business? Not enough employees to deal with his customers. What can he do about it? By this stage smile and be happy! But one lesson for Bill to learn from this is the importance of communicating with his employees. If you know what’s going on, you can plan for events in advance.
Published 01/02/2006.
