This has been the year of ‘the unexpected’ and employees are having to explore various leave entitlements that many employers may not have come across before or had very little experience of. Ideally your contract of employment or staff handbook should set out the various leave entitlements and manner in which they should be applied for. However, we have set out the general entitlements to start you off.
If an employee needs to take time off because their child or parent has been diagnosed with Covid-19 what options can you explore with them? There are several options and they all provide something a little different:
- Force Majeure
- Parents Leave
- Parental Leave
- Carers Leave
- Unpaid Leave
- Compassionate Leave
Force Majeure
Force Majeure is best described as emergency leave i.e. it can’t be applied for in advance as it is used for urgent and unexpected family emergencies. So if an employee gets a call or a letter from their child’s school to say that the class has to self-isolate as there has been a confirmed case of Covid-19, the employee could use their force majeure leave to leave and collect their child and to try and organise their affairs.
It is paid leave and is paid by the employer.
The maximum amount of leave under statute is three days in any 12 month period or five days in a 36 month period. The Government has asked employers, if possible, during the Covid pandemic to allow employees to take the full five days in one block.
Parents Leave
This will only apply to parents of a child born after the 1st November 2019 and we have explored this in another blog in detail.
This is a two week period that can be applied for within the first 52 weeks of a child’s life or within 52 weeks of their adoption.
The employee must apply in writing to their employer and give them 6 weeks notice of seeking the leave.
The Department of Welfare pays €240 per week of the leave. The employer does not pay.
Parental Leave
Parental leave entitles employees to take up to 26 weeks’ unpaid parental leave if they have have been working for their employer for at least a year to get the full 26 weeks.
Again the employee must provide written notice of their intention to take the leave at least 6 weeks in advance.
This leave is unpaid, but as the employer you must ensure that the employee’s role is available to them on their return.
Carers Leave
Employees can leave work temporarily to provide full-time care and attention to someone who needs it, however, it must be taken for a minimum of 13 weeks. If the employee seeks less than 13 weeks leave, you can refuse it.
It is an unpaid leave, but the employee may be able to apply for carer’s benefit or carer’s allowance.
Unpaid Leave
Employers can always provide employees with unpaid leave , but we would recommend that the terms of this leave be set out in writing to avoid any confusion or problems in the future.
Compassionate Leave
Where possible employers can provide or extend their compassionate leave to provide employees with paid leave for a set number of days.
It is important that you set out these types of leave in your staff handbook and where unique situations arise and specific terms have to be agreed that you set out the terms in writing.
If we can help you with any of the above please don’t hesitate to contact esa on [email protected] or 01 8774608.
Stay safe!