Personal/Carers Leave

[brookebowrey]

Can someone please explain what the scope of personal carers leave is?

Do most organisations allow employees to use for doctors and dental appointments?

Under the legislation it just says for sickness, but my organisation allows it for appointments as well; is this normal practice?

[HeidiC]

I would reword the policy to state "unavoidable" medical appointments, rather than just random appointments that suits the employee. I feel that it is a good policy to allow this usage of personal/carer's leave, as the title states "Personal"/carer's leave rather than just "Sick"/Carer's leave.

Really, it is up to the organisation and what they are prepared/can afford to offer their employees.

[Moz]

Originally Posted by HeidiC

I would reword the policy to state "unavoidable" medical appointments, rather than just random appointments that suits the employee.

Are you legally able to do that?

And even if you are, how do you define "unavoidable"? (in who's opinion was the appointment "unavoidable"?)

Are you going to start probing into what "medical appointments" are for and investigate whether they could have been scheduled outside work hours?

I wouldn't advise going down that path ....

[HeidiC]

Originally Posted by Moz

Are you legally able to do that?

And even if you are, how do you define "unavoidable"? (in who's opinion was the appointment "unavoidable"?)

Are you going to start probing into what "medical appointments" are for and investigate whether they could have been scheduled outside work hours?

I wouldn't advise going down that path ....

You are legally able to define the company's expectations when it comes to taking personal leave as long as it is reasonable and doesn't infringe on the NES or protected rights.

It may be simplier to just state that the employees are encouraged to use personal time for any medical appointment and allow some flexibiliy on a case by case basis for the "unavoidable" medical appointments - such as doctor unavailable after hours, emergency dental work, specialist appointment, etc.

You don't need to know what the appointment is for - just why it needs to be during work hours and can't be after hours.

[Moz]

Originally Posted by HeidiC

... allow some flexibiliy on a case by case basis for the "unavoidable" medical appointments - such as doctor unavailable after hours, emergency dental work, specialist appointment, etc.

You don't need to know what the appointment is for - just why it needs to be during work hours and can't be after hours.

It's fine to communicate the org's expectations. I would encourage people to avoid using personal leave unnecessarily for routine medical appointments so that they have personal leave available when they really need it.

But if you start asking the question "why" everytime someone takes half a day for a medical appt you know what the answer will be - "I couldn't get an appointment outside work hours".

The person may not even divulge what type of medical appointment that had.

You are really never going to be in a position to dispute the employees word, so what's the point?