All employees, regardless of their length of service or sex, have the right not to be unreasonably refused a reasonable amount of unpaid time off during working hours to deal with emergencies involving their dependants. This right is given by the Employment Rights Act 1996.
The employee is entitled to time off to take action that is necessary:
- to help a dependant who has fallen ill, given birth, or been injured or assaulted;
- to arrange for care to be provided to a dependant who is ill or injured;
- because of a dependant's death;
- because of an unexpected breakdown in a dependant's care arrangements, as where a childminder falls ill; or
- to deal with an unexpected incident involving the employee's child during a time when an educational establishment is responsible for the child, as where a child is suspended from school or injured on a school trip.
It is worth noting that the employee has the right to time off only to take the action that is necessary to deal with one of these unexpected emergencies. For example, time off to deal with a burst pipe or to wait in for a service engineer is not covered. If an employee's child falls unexpectedly ill, he or she is entitled to time off to arrange for a family member or friend to care for the child, but not to spend an extended period caring for the child himself or herself. (The employee may be entitled to take parental leave (parental leave) for that purpose, if the employer's parental leave scheme allows for leave to be taken at short notice.)
The Government guide to time off for dependants (time off for dependants) suggests that, while the amount of time off that is reasonable will vary according to the circumstances of the emergency, one or two days' leave should be sufficient in most cases. If the amount of time off that an employee is seeking is otherwise necessary and reasonable, he or she is entitled to take it, even if it causes disruption or inconvenience to the employer's business.
An employee's dependants include his or her spouse, children and parents. It also includes any person who lives in the same household as the employee, which could include, for example, the employee's partner, stepchild or grandparent. It does not include anyone who shares the household as the employee's employee, tenant, lodger or boarder.
In the case of time off to deal with illness or injury, a dependant also includes anyone who reasonably relies on the employee for assistance if he or she is ill, injured or assaulted, or to make care arrangements in the event of illness or injury. That could include, for example, an elderly neighbour. In the case of time off to deal with an unexpected breakdown in care arrangements, a dependant also includes any person who reasonably relies on the employee to make care arrangements.
The employee must let the employer know as soon as possible why time off is needed and how long it will be. If circumstances change while the employee is off work so that he or she needs more time off than originally envisaged, he or she must let the employer know as soon as possible why extra time is needed and how long the extension will be. If it is not possible for the employee to contact the employer before taking the time off, the employee must still let the employer know the reason for the absence when he or she returns to work.
It is unlawful for an employer to treat an employee unfavourably because he or she has taken, or sought to take, reasonable time off for dependants. It would also be automatically unfair for an employer to dismiss an employee or select an employee for redundancy for that reason, regardless of the employee's length of service.
If, on the other hand, an employer has good grounds for believing that an employee has abused the right to time off for dependants by claiming time off for a fictitious emergency, then it is entitled to discipline the employee for dishonesty. If the employer is considering dismissing the employee, it should ensure that it has followed a fair disciplinary procedure before doing so ( discipline ).
Many employers offer time off with pay on a contractual or discretionary basis to employees who need to deal with family emergencies. This counts towards the employee's right to time off under the legislation, but cannot limit it. For example, an employer that gives employees one day's paid leave to attend family funerals may need to give a particular employee whose parent has died further unpaid time off to make the funeral arrangements.