Note: The usual rules for calculating normal weekly pay for the purpose of determining entitlement to, and the rate of, statutory shared parental pay are adjusted for employees who are furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. <>
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) gives more choice in how 2 parents can care for their child. 08Fall08FallTo be completed and submitted at least 8 weeks prior to you wishing to take shared parental leave. HR (General) If an employee requests periods of discontinuous shared parental leave, the employer can refuse the request and require the employee to withdraw the request or take the leave in a continuous block. HR professionals are in full learning mode. When an employee gives the employer notice of a period of leave, he or she can request, with at least 8 weeks’ written notice before the start date of the leave, either a single block or discontinuous periods of leave. However, if an employee requests a continuous period of leave, the employer must agree to it. If an employee is eligible for shared parental leave he or she can request to take discontinuous periods of leave. Advertising specifications They are not intended either as a substitute for professional advice or judgment or to provide legal or other advice with respect to particular circumstances. Form. <>/ExtGState<>/XObject<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageB/ImageC/ImageI] >>/MediaBox[ 0 0 595.25 842] /Contents 4 0 R/Group<>/Tabs/S/StructParents 0>>
Terms and conditions, • Employee Benefits It is the view of some that sharing leave is enough of an administrative headache alone, without this being compounded by requests for leave that repeatedly stop and start. View our privacy policy, cookie policy and supported browsers. Which then begs the question, if the employee can circumvent an employer’s “ban” on discontinuous periods of leave, would the employer not be better off permitting period of leave notices for discontinuous leave in the first place, therefore reducing the amount of to-ing and fro-ing? Download and use Shared Parental Leave: forms and templates for parents; templates for employers; Step 1: Ending maternity or adoption entitlement. Cookies policy If the employee does not withdraw the request, the discontinuous leave notification automatically defaults to a period of continuous leave. If the employee requests discontinuous leave, the employer can refuse the request and require the employee to withdraw the request or take the leave in a continuous block. HR Shared Services An employer receives a Leave Notice requesting 4 weeks’ SPL, 4 weeks’ work followed by another 4 weeks SPL. However, as an employee can submit up to three separate leave notices, a policy of refusing all requests for discontinuous leave may not be effective in preventing disruption. Employee Benefits Live, • Occupational Health & Wellbeing See Family-related statutory payments and furlough leave in Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. I’d be pleased if anyone suggests my interpretation of the ACAS guidance is wrong! No, shared parental leave must be taken in blocks of at least one week at a time. It enables you to share with your partner up to 50 of the 52 weeks of maternity leave/adoption leave to which the mother/partner is entitled. Please press Ctrl/Command + D to add a bookmark manually. People Analytics Terms and conditions, • Employee Benefits Once a request for discontinuous leave is made the employee and employer will have a discussion period of 14 calendar days to talk about the request. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Advertising specifications Occupational Health Employee Relations An employee who is eligible for shared parental leave can request to take discontinuous periods of leave. Copyright © 2020 LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group, Access the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme/Furlough leave, Employment tribunals and dispute resolution, Shared parental leave and shared parental pay. As long as an employee meets the eligibility requirements and gives his or her employer the correct notice, he or she can choose when to take his or her shared parental leave. Training However, these are likely to be few and far between and, fundamentally, the employer can still refuse them. Employment Law 3 0 obj
They may want to craft the intricacies of their leave to suit their broader schedule, but most employees are no more likely to request complex leave patterns than they are to be constantly updating and changing their parenting arrangements. Continuous leave is taken in one block of leave together made in one application. Health & Safety If a request for discontinuous leave is not agreed or the employer refuses the discontinuous leave or no response is given, the default provisions will apply as follow: For example: SPL one year on – reasons to be cheerful? Shared parental leave is aimed at giving parents more flexibility over how they share childcare between them during the first year. Within 19 calendar days of the original notification, the employee can choose when the continuous leave will commence but it cannot start sooner than eight weeks from the date the original notification was given. If the employee does withdraw the request it will not count as one of their three notices to book leave. stream
Learning & Development If the employee requests discontinuous shared parental leave, the employer can refuse the request and require the employee to withdraw the request or take the leave in a continuous block. The Personnel Today Awards endobj
However, the ACAS guidance – in the form of a sample shared parental leave policy – states, in the section on Continuous leave notifications, that “an employee has the right to take a continuous block of leave notified in a single notification…” but also states that “an employee may submit up to three separate notifications for continuous periods of leave”. View our privacy policy, cookie policy and supported browsers. Note: The usual rules for calculating normal weekly pay for the purpose of determining entitlement to, and the rate of, statutory shared parental pay are adjusted for employees who are furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Others may approach it from another, arguably more positive angle, offering incentives for those who take leave as longer blocks, which should be easier for an employer manage in terms of administration and cover. Therefore, an employee could not take shared parental leave in blocks of one or two days to reduce his or her working hours. LNRS Data Services Limited trading as XpertHR is an Appointed Representative of Markel International Insurance Company Limited trading as Markel Legal Expenses Insurance which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. If an employee submits a notice requesting discontinuous leave over three periods (which must be taken in blocks of a week or more), the employer can refuse the employee’s request. 4 0 obj
“They could ask for discontinuous leave in blocks, and then be refused, only to come back and issue three separate notifications for periods of continuous leave.”.