Family Friendly Legislation - An Overview for Employers

Hello and welcome into to this session in which we're going to look at the range of rights relating to family reasons. We're going todo through maternity paternity adoption. Shared parental parental time offer depends on end with flexible working. And of course, that's, ah, awful lot of information to get through. But what we're going to aim to do is to cover a war the key points so that you have a good overview of the different types of leave that people can request. So let's start off at the beginning with maternity leave, all women, regardless of their length of service, are entitled to take statutory maternity leave on statutory maternity leave is split into two sections, so there's 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave, followed by 26 weeks of additional maternity leave. So that's a total of 52 weeks of leave. Within the ordinary maternity leave period, there is a section called Compulsory Maternity Leave on. This is the two weeks immediately following the birth of the child, full weeks. If the employee works in a factory or a similar sort of environment, and during that compulsory maternity leave period, the woman is not allowed to work, even if she really wants to. You have to refuse a request that she makes to work. Now. Everything to do with maternity leave is centered around the expected week of confinement. Also referred referred to a C E W C. On This is the week that the baby is due in medical opinion. So the woman will be given a form called a mat B one no earlier than the 20th week of her pregnancy. And she'll be given that formed by her doctor or midwife or or or any other medical practitioner that is involved in her care on that will have the expected week of confinement on it and then everything that you calculate relating Teoh maternity leave or her pay well relates. But to that date on the woman construct art her maternity leave at any 0.11 weeks prior t the expected week of confinement if she is ill with a maternity related illness. In the four weeks before the expected week of confinement, the employee can insist that she starts her maternity leave, but this has got to be an illness related to the pregnancy. So, for example, if she breaks her leg, the employer could know in force her to start her maternity leave. But maybe if she had got a particularly high blood pressure as a result of the pregnancy, she was unable to work. Then when's he gets to the four weeks before the expected week of confinement, Women can be told that she's caught. Got to start her leave. The woman is required to tell her employer that she's pregnant by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of confinement on. At that point, she has to tell the employer, but she wants to take statutory maternity leave on. The employer should then respond to this, confirming the conversation that has taken place. Been confirming the date that it has been agreed that the employees will be returning toe work now. This point, of course, the woman doesn't always know exactly what she wants to do, although she might have a good guess. So what the woman is going to do at this stage is she's going to tell the employer I expect that I'm going to come back to work on a particular date. The employer confirms that if the woman wants to change that data at any time, and that could be bringing it later if the date she is she's given is not taking the full 52 weeks of her leave, or it could be deciding that she wants to start her her combat work earlier when she can do so. But she's got to give at least eight weeks notice to her employer if the employer does not right to the employees following the original notification and does not therefore confirming writing when the maternity leave is going to come to an end. Theo employer then can't take any action if the woman does no appear back at work on the day that the employer is expecting her because nothing has been agreed. Now all women are entitled to take maternity leave. But no, all women are going Teoh be entitled to receive statutory maternity pay. Statutory maternity pay is paid Women who are employed in the 15th week before the expected week of confinement who have at least 26 weeks service. If a woman is no entitled to statutory maternity pay, she will be told that by her employer on then she might be able to claim maternity allowance. It will depend on what her earnings have been in the in the period, leaving up to her maternity leave now. Although Sattar tree maternity leave is 52 weeks, statutory maternity pay is not paid for 52 weeks. It's only paid for 39 of those weeks on its paid for 9/10 of salary for the 1st 6 weeks on, then at the lower rate of statutory maternity pay for the remaining 33 weeks on end as off the first of April 2019. That lower rate is £148.68 per week on its reviewed every April. Now it's always also important to notice the all women who are pregnant have the right to attend antenatal appointments. On that time off is paid. Now. Antenatal appointments are no defined in law, so it's broadly taken to be anything that the doctor or the midwife for the medical practitioner responsible for the woman's care says that they want to duel would be good for them to dio as a result of their pregnancy. Of course, the obvious is blood tests scans the checkups that the woman will have, but it also could include things like parent craft classes or relax ation classes. If the employer says that that would be beneficial to attend, the partner of a pregnant woman can attend upto to antenatal appointments with the woman as long as the appointment doesn't last for more than 6.5 hours. On this time off is unpaid on. When I say the partner of the woman, this replies to applies to somebody who has a in a qualifying relationship on that is defined is being the pregnant woman's husband or partner or being in a civil partnership woman. Hence the right does apply to same sex couples or is the father of the baby. More is in a surrogacy situation in relation to the baby. The final point will make about maternity leave before we move on. And look at other family rights is that when the woman returns to work, if she returns after or during the period of ordinary maternity leave, then she is entitled to return to her old job. But if she returns during or at the end of the additional maternity leave period, she's in, entitled to return to a job with the same terms and conditions of employment and the same status, which might be her old job but might not be. Another important point to know about return is that the 52 weeks maternity leave can't be extended. So if the woman comes to the end of her leave and she's ill. So let's say it's a pregnancy related illness. Let's say she's got post Natal depression. Has she got to the end of her leave? And she's got post Natal depression. The leave is not extended. It still comes to an end, but she would just transfer to being on sick leave if she becomes ill while she's on maternity leave, then she can't be on sick leave. You can't reef Steve. Statutory maternity pay on statutory sick pay. At the same time, you can't be on maternity leave and on sick leave. At the same time, it's one or the other. So let's look at paternity leave on. This is taken by the person that's in the qualifying relationship that I've already explained. So this does mean that if you've got the same sex couple that the one in the couple that's given birth contain maternity leave on the other partner in the couple can take paternity leave, even though the name of it may sound as if it's aimed at the man. No, it could be taken by. Whoever the partner is on leave is a up to two weeks on end. It's for those who have got at least 26 weeks service with the employer on is paid at the same rate as a lower rate first, just statutory maternity pay. So, as if the first of April 2019 that's £148.68 it has to be taken within 56 days of the birth of the child or the date that the child was placed for adoption. Because paternity leave can be taken in an adoption or a birth situation, and it's either taken as one week or two weeks, there is no right for it to be taken as two separate weeks. So the part takes a week and then goes back to work and then takes another week, and there's no provision for it to be taken as individual days, so it's either one week or it's two weeks. Let's move on and look at adoption, leave and pay. I'm broadly speaking. It mirrors everything that we've said about statutory maternity leave and pay, so it's 52 weeks on. It consists of 26 weeks of ordinary adoption leave, followed by 26 weeks of additional adoption. Leave on the rights on return toe work are exactly the same as for maternity leave. So if the women all the man, because it could be only the taking adoption if, um, they return in the 26 weeks of ordinary adoption leave, they're entitled to return to their old job. If they return in the period of additional adoption leave, then they're retype entitled Teoh Return to a job with the same terms conditions on the same status. Is there old job, which might be their old job but isn't necessarily now Course the big difference between adoption leave a maternity leave is the notice period because you don't have a 40 week pregnancy as the buildup. What typically happens is the an individual goes through a vetting process. Andi then is accepted by an adoption agency as being a potential adopter on the individual, then has to wait for a child to be placed with them on. That could happen very soon after being approved by an adoption agency, or it could be quite a period of time later. But unemployment's tell their employer that they want to take stash tree adoption, leave no more than seven days after they are informed that they've been matched with a child by the adoption agency Onda. The employer can ask for site off the matching certificate that is provided by the adoption agency to confirm the placement. The employer must then right, Teoh the employees to confirm when the secretary adoption leave comes to an end. And it's exactly the same principle as the maternity leave that the employee says, Well, this is when I want to return to work. But if at some stage they want to change that date, either bring it forward earlier. Well, put it later. They have to give at least eight weeks notice. Statutory adoption leave can start gnome, or than 14 days before the date that the child is expected to be placed with a couple, and the latest ikan star is a date that the placement commences. If sadly, the placement fails for some reason, then the doctor must return to work with a two least within eight weeks After the placement ends, the couple who are adopting can attend appointments, building up to the adoption, the primary adopter and that is taken to be the person who's attending. Intending to take the adoption leave can attend up to five appointments on the time off is paid. The secondary a doctor so that is the partner of the person that's going to take statutory adoption. Leave can attend up to two appointments on the time off is unpaid. Now those who have entered into a surrogacy surrogacy arrangement are entitled to take statutory adoption. Leave if they are entitled to Andi if they intend to apply for a parental order under the Human Embryology on Fertilization Act 2000 and eight. So if legally they are going to go through the process of becoming theme parent off the child, then they can take adoption. Leave up now shared parental leave. They sort of introduced back in 2015. Shared parental leave can be taken when the employee who is taking statutory maternity or stashed tree adoption leave oaks toe end it before they've taken the full period of leave Onda ops to take shared parental leave inset instead. Share parental leaf is then and taken for the remainder of believe. So you can't have a situation where somebody takes some statutory maternity leave transfers to shared parental leave and then says all No, I'd like to go back to maternity leave instead. That is not possible. Now. Share parental leaves to, say convey taken a za result of either maternity or a doctor. Leave coming to an end but the compulsory maternity leave period. And if you remember, that's a two or the four week period directly after the birth of the child. That still has to be taken by the woman who has given birth. So in the case of birth, the maximum leave that could be shared with a partner is only 50 weeks or 48 weeks. If the wound works in a factory or a similar environment. Now the couple can say that they want to take continuous leave or discontinuous leave. Continuous leave is where the shirt the shared parental leave, is shared in two sections, so basically partner a takes a period of time on then partner be takes a period of time, and then the leaf is only fell. Discontinuous leave is anything else. So this could be where the couple say we'd like to take two weeks on two weeks off. So, partner, I was going to take two weeks. Part of B's gonna take two weeks. Partner is going to take two weeks. Partner bees. You get the idea, or it could pay any other variation or combination on employer can refuse a request to take discontinuous leave, but they can't refuse a request to take continuous leave as long as the employees, of course, are eligible to take the leave. If the employer does refuse a request to take discontinuous leave, they have to allow the employees take continuous leave instead. An employee to be eligible to take share print leave must be eligible to take statutory maternity leave or statutory adoption. Leave will be entitled to receive statutory maternity pay, statutory adoption pay or maternity allowance. Onda must meet The continuity test on the continuity test is quite wordy on. You'll find it written out for you in your notes. Now the period of shared parental leave is whatever leave is left, so let's say, For example, a woman is has said, I want to take all 52 weeks of the statutory maternity leave she as taking 20 weeks leave on. Now she's going to share the remaining leave now to take shared parental leave. She'll have to have given eight weeks notice, but let's presume that she's done that, and she's taken 20 of the 52 weeks. So at Liza's with 32 weeks, there was now 32 weeks to be taken in shared parental leave. On that is 32 weeks for the couple. It's no. 32 weeks for each individual on the couple of now Got 32 weeks that they can share out between them. As I say, continuous leave will be accepted. Discontinuous leave can be refused on. The same principle applies to a shared parental pay share. Parental pay is all at the lower rate of £148. 68 as off the first of April 2019 Onda Again, It is an entitlement that the couple share, so let's carry on our analogy. But let's just change it slightly to make the mats a little bit easier, let's say We've got the woman who has taken now 19 weeks off statutory maternity leave. I'm not sure I have made the mats easier. Yes, I have. So she's taken 19 weeks of leave, and so she's had 19 weeks of statutory maternity pay. Now the remainder is going to be shared with her partner, but, of course, is only a total of 39 weeks of paid leave anyway. So if she's already taken 19 weeks, was only 20 weeks left off the shared parental pay to be taken on that's taken by whichever partner takes it first. So if it is decided that the partner A is going to take 15 weeks off shared parental leave on then Partner B is going to take the remainder. Partner A will take 15 weeks of shared parental pay. But Partner be will only take five weeks because at that point there's only going to be five weeks of pay left. What is important is that shared parental leave and shared parental pay are an entitlement for the partnership. No for each individual. Okay, the each parent who is intending to take parental leave must give a list of information to their employer on again. There's quite a lot there, Andi. I've written it all out in your your notes for years. Once this information has been given, the employer can request further information and if so, it must. The request must be made within 14 days of receiving the information from the employees on. The employer could request a copy of the child's birth certificate and the name and address of the partners employer. I have a request for shared parental leaves being made before the baby's bowl. That, of course, would be a birth certificate. But in that situation, the employees must provide it as soon as it becomes available. And really, it might well be worth just asking for that information. That might be something that it's decided at a later stage isn't actually needed. But if you haven't requested it within that 14 days, then there isn't any right to go on on Request it at a later stage. So there is more detail about shared parental leave in your notes, which I hope you find useful. But now let's move on and look a parental leave, which is totally different to shared parental leave. I do appreciate the names of very similar in. It's easy to get them confused, but they are very different. Parental leave is unpaid leave that is taken for the purpose of caring for the child. On the maximum is entitlement is 18 weeks per child on that has to be taken by the child's 18th birthday. So basically, before the child becomes an adult, on the maximum that could be taken is four weeks. Each year. It is important that is taken to care for the child. So the sort of situation when it's likely to be taken is, for example, if the child minded be in is going on holiday and there's no one else to look after the child. Or maybe if the child's nursery is closing between Christmas and the New Year on, there's nobody to look after the child or that sort of situation. What it can't be taken for is the grand parents of offered to look after the child, and the parents think great will go on a Caribbean cruise on have a good old rest. No, because that's no caring for the child. Parental leave is not particularly popular. Leave. It's not taken that often on. That's probably because it's unpaid. Oh, I'm parental leave. You have to have a year service to be eligible to take that. But time offer dependence is a day one, right, so there's there's no qualifying service for it on This is set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 on its time off that can be taken to deal with an emergency that arises relating to a dependent. On a dependent is the employee's spouse, the child parents, someone who looks in the same household but not tenants, borders or live in staff. Will someone who relies on the employee for assistant and it is for emergencies? It's situations like the care arrangements have broken down, or the death of a dependent or dependent being taken unwell on. Of course, in an emergency, you can't give a lengthy period of notice because by the rain age of it is an emergency is unexpected. Andi. It's not possible to say how much time someday is allowed off because it depends on the nature of the emergency on how easy it is to put in place ways of managing the situation. It is worth just saying that a pet is not a dependent in the eight hour press has been quite a bit of information in recent times about employees allowing things like Paul eternity leave time off to help a train a puppy, for example, a little time off to deal with an ill pet. That is something that an employer might use their discretion on allowing employees to do. But there's no legal rightto my way, say as well. It's worth noticing that boiler isn't a dependent. So if some emergency happens like the boiler springs a leak home again, the employer may use their discretion toe allow their employees to deal with it. But it's not covered by the legislation. And finally, a right that you could argue, shouldn't really be in this session at all. The right to request flexible working their supplies to anybody with a least 20 weeks six weeks service who has not made a similar request in the last 12 months. Now, when the right to request and it is a right to request not to write toe have when the right to request flexible working was first introduced, it was solely for those who wanted flexible working for childcare reasons. Then it was extended to broader caring responsibilities. But now it could be for any reason it the right to request. Flexible working is not limited to those that have caring responsibilities. The reason that I have kept it in this session is that although it's not limited, today's that might want Flex were working because if their caring responsibilities is still primarily taken for that reason, so it is worth just mentioning on the right is for the employees request. The employer has to consider that request. Andi make a decision within three months of the request being made on the employee is allowed to appeal against the decision on that's included in that three month period. And there are a list of reasons that can be given for refusing a request on. I've listed those out in your notes for you. So there's an overview of all the family Friendly writes that employees half I hope you found it useful