Employees’ Entitlements to Leave: A Guide for Employers
Central to employment law is the idea of protection for employees. As an employer, it is important to consider the obligations you have to your employees, including, an employee’s right of leave. In this article, we look at the circumstances in which employees can take time off from work.
An employee is an individual with a contract of service, otherwise known as a full-time or part-time employee. On the other hand, a contract for service refers to a self-employed individual. Right of leave allowances are allocated to individuals with a contract of service, i.e., employees. This article will refer to a full-time employee’s rights when outlining types of leave.
Holiday Leave entitlement
Annual or statutory leave is an annual leave that employees are entitled to and is a form of paid time off work.
An employee is entitled to this from their date of employment. Typically, an employee is entitled to 5/6 weeks’ leave, but this may differ because it is calculated based on the number of days worked. This leave accumulates when an employee is on other types of leave, such as maternity or sick leave.
Failure to provide annual leave without good reason is unlawful and may result in serious consequences. The consequences might constitute a claim against you at an employment tribunal and negative impacts and disruption to your work environment.
Sick Leave
Employees eligible for statutory sick pay can be entitled to up to £99.35 weekly for up to 28 weeks. In order for employees to be considered eligible for statutory sick pay, the following criteria must be met:
Must have an employment contract, i.e. cannot be casual work.
Under this contract, they have completed some work.
Have been sick for more than four days.
Earn at least £123 weekly.
Have provided proof of illness i.e. a doctor’s note.
If your employee cannot qualify for statutory sick pay, they are able to apply universal credit or employment and support allowance. In order to process this application, they must also fill out the SSP1 form.
The SSP1 form needs to be completed by the business, certifying that they are the employer and subsequently including the reasons that the employee cannot qualify for statutory sick pay. If your employee believes that your decision is unfair they can appeal to HMRC, so the requisite legal threshold must be met.
Emergency Leave
Emergency leave, as the name suggests, refers to sudden and unexpected employee leave. Instances of emergency leave include serious circumstances like a death in the family, or illness of a child, for example. This leave is often paid, but there is not always a requirement to do so; it is important to refer to the employment contract in these circumstances.
Unlike other leave, there is no set limit, but time off must be reasonable to deal with the circumstance. This can happen when an employee lives with an elderly grandparent who falls ill and requires on-hand medical attention. The employee may request a week off to make arrangements which would be considered reasonable in the circumstances.
What can you do?
Since there is no limitation on the frequency of time off an employee may take, you should speak to your employees if their time off is affecting work substantially. It is also important to check in with your employees to make sure they are receiving the support they need, aiding work relations. Employees should not be treated differently if they have asked for or have taken time off, as it can result in action against you via a potential dismissal claim.
Bank Holiday
Requiring employees to work on a bank holiday is at your discretion, as the employer. This would depend on your trade, and whether it is beneficial for the business. For instance, supermarkets may gain more by remaining open on bank holidays.
While granting time off may have obvious downsides, such as a loss of revenue for the day, it carries great benefits. It allows your employees breaks throughout the year and can effectively facilitate higher levels of productivity and motivation in the workplace. Furthermore, overworking your employees will see little benefits in the long-term and may lead to liability against the business. If time off is granted, it may count towards their annual leave.
Time off work for public duties
Employees can get time off work for public duties, though this is not included in their annual leave entitlement. A common example is that employers have to grant time off for jury service.
The length of time taken is to be agreed upon between yourself and your employee; it depends on how long the duty will take. For example, jury service may take two weeks, or longer, depending on the complexity of the case. In other circumstances, consider how much time they have taken off before regarding the same public duty, or how the time off will affect the business.
You can refuse the time off if you deem it to be unreasonable, for instance, if you have two staff on annual leave and a third is requesting time off for a public duty, you may deny the request on the basis that it would be detrimental to the workplace as you are short-staffed.
Once again, if your employees believe that you are not giving them enough time off for their public duties then they can raise a grievance. To avoid this, it is recommended to keep a detailed record of your employees and their public duties and how much time they have taken off in order to justify your reasoning if you deny any requests.
Time off for training
Employees may have the right to request time off work for training or studying, if:
they are classed as an employee.
they have worked for you for at least 26 weeks.
training will help them do their job better.
at least 250 people work in the organisation.
Employees can only make one request per year. They should follow the organisation’s rules to ask for permission to take time off, but if there are no existing rules then they should write to you with details of the training. Upon receiving this request, you have 28 days to accept or hold a meeting with your employee to discuss it. If you decide to hold a meeting, you must make a decision within 14 days, unless the employee agrees to extend this time in writing.
You may wish to decline their request but there are a limited number of reasons for declining a request. These include:
The training is not fit for the purpose of the business.
It is too expensive.
The business could no longer meet customer demands.
You cannot organise cover for the employee to take time off either internally or externally.
It would damage the business performance and productivity.
The timing is inconvenient e.g. while the employee is scheduled to work, there is not enough work for them.
It conflicts with planned structural changes.
Paying for the training or study is not required, but if it benefits the business, you may wish to do so. Encouraging this in your employees improves confidence and grows their skill set, benefitting the way the company is run. An employee believing that you care about their personal and professional development may improve their mindset and productivity at work. It may also help the business attract good-quality candidates and inspire loyalty within the workforce.
- Author: Rita Almazuri
- Author: Rita Almazuri
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DISCLAIMER
This article has been written by law students for the sole purpose of providing informative insight. The information in this article is intended for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, nor should the information be used for the purpose of advising clients. You should seek independent legal advice before relying on any of the information provided in this article.
Sources
GOV.UK, ‘Holiday Entitlement’ (GOV.UK26 January 2012) <https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights>
‘Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): Employer Guide’ (GOV.UK) <https://www.gov.uk/employers-sick-pay>
‘Time off Work for Public Duties’ (GOV.UK) <https://www.gov.uk/time-off-work-public-duties>
‘Travel Disruption and Work’ (GOV.UK) <https://www.gov.uk/travel-disruption-your-rights-at-work>
Government Digital Service, ‘Training and Study at Work: Your Rights’ (GOV.UK9 December 2011) <https://www.gov.uk/training-study-work-your-rights>
‘Time off for Family and Dependants’ (GOV.UK4 January 2012) <https://www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants>
ndirect, ‘Holiday Entitlements | Nidirect’ (nidirect10 November 2015) <https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/holiday-entitlements>
UK Government, ‘Training and Study at Work: Your Rights’ (GOV.UK) <https://www.gov.uk/training-study-work-your-rights/asking-for-time-off> accessed 2 November 2022
