Out of the office for a while

15 February 2010

Full-time employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks paid holiday, which is 28 days for someone who works a five-day week. For part-time employees, the entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis. There are rules on maternity and paternity leave too.

But there are other circumstances in which employees have the right to additional time off work.

Training

In the case of younger workers, there is an entitlement to paid time off for training. Workers, who are aged 16 or 17 and who did not manage to reach a certain level of education while at school, can take a reasonable amount of time off work in order to study for a qualification that will take them to that level. Any employee who turns 18 while studying for such a qualification must be allowed to finish their course.

Looking for another job

Redundancy also entitles employees to paid time off work. As long as the employee has two years of continuous service, they can take a reasonable amount of time off work if they are in the course of being made redundant. The time must be used to seek alternative employment, attend interviews or look for training opportunities.

If the business is being transferred, then employees must also be given sufficient paid time off work in order to consult.

Employees can also take time off for other reasons that are linked to work.

These include paid time off to attend to health and safety duties; to carry out the duties of a pension scheme trustee; to fulfil trades union duties; to fulfil the duties of a member of a works council; and to exercise their right to accompany another employee to a disciplinary or grievance hearing.

Personal reasons

There are occasions when an employee can take time off work because of an event in their personal lives or because they have certain, specific responsibilities unconnected with their job.

Employees can take unpaid time off work if there is an emergency involving someone who is dependent on them. Usually, a dependant is thought of as the person’s partner, their children or another close member of the family. However, in certain circumstances, a dependant can be someone outside of the family, such as an elderly neighbour who relies on or is cared for by the person.

The emergency could be an accident or a sudden illness or a problem in arranging care for the dependant.

It is up to the employer to decide how much time the employee can take off work, but it must be reasonable and must be sufficient to allow the employee deal with the emergency.

Employees may also request time off so that they can fulfil personal responsibilities. These may include time off to attend religious ceremonies, to deal with domestic matters like essential repair work, to go to the doctor’s or dentist’s, or to attend a wedding.

Employers need to have a clear policy on time off that is given at their discretion, and this should be included in an employee’s terms and conditions. The policy must not discriminate against any employee or group of employees.

There is no requirement that such time off is paid, except where it is agreed in the employment contract. Many employers, however, choose to pay their employees when they take discretionary time off work as a way of demonstrating their commitment to their staff.

Public service

Sometimes an employee will occupy a public position or will be a member of a public body or will be called to carry out some public duty. This entitles them to a certain amount of unpaid time off work so that they can fulfil their responsibilities.

Employees who are members of a local authority (police, education or health, for example) or other public bodies such as tribunals or agencies can take a reasonable amount of time off work.

Employees are sometimes summoned for jury service. An employer is not allowed to dismiss an employee for being called up to or attending jury service. Nor must an employee be treated unfairly in other ways for performing their duties as a juror.

There is, however, a circumstance in which an employee loses their right to claim unfair dismissal over jury service. An employee can request to be excused from jury service if their absence from work will cause the business harm. When an employer explains this to an essential employee and the employee is unreasonable in not applying to be excused jury service, then they could forego their protection against unfair dismissal. Employers do not have to pay employees on jury service, except if their contract of employment stipulates that they must be paid.

Members of the Territorial Army are required to attend periods of training each year. Employers are not obliged to allow them to take the time off work. Most employers, however, agree to the time off.

Employers do not have to pay employees who are called up for military service. In certain conditions, they can apply for their employees to be excused military service. This would mean proving that the employee’s absence would seriously impair the running of the business.

If an employee is an Armed Forces reservist, the employer is entitled to compensation should they be called up. The compensation will cover getting someone to replace the employee and training the reservist when they return to work. Employers must give reservists their old job back, or one similar to it, once they have completed their military service.