Family Emergency Leave

Q        Do I have to pay employees when they need time off to deal with an unexpected family emergency at home?

A        No. You can't refuse an employee a reasonable amount of time off to deal with a genuine family emergency, but any time taken can be unpaid.

Q        My employee's daughter has recently caught chicken pox and so her childminder is refusing to care for her.  My employee therefore wants to take two weeks off on family emergency leave to look after her.  Do I have to agree to this?

A        Under the family emergency leave regulations the time off is only meant to be for as long as it takes to deal with the emergency.  This should therefore be to arrange childcare rather than to actually physically care for the child.  However, if the child can't go to the childminder and there is no-one else to care for her, it would probably be unreasonable to refuse this leave.  You should never be afraid to speak to your employee (nicely!) to find out more about the situation and whether there are any alternatives to her taking the entire two weeks off.  For example, would she be able to do any work from home?  As emergency leave is unpaid, ask whether she would prefer to take part or all of the period out of her holiday entitlement.

See also:

• Time off for family emergencies