Dependant Leave

The Employment Rights Act 1996 permits an employee to take such unpaid leave as is reasonable to deal appropriately with:

• providing assistance where are dependant falls ill, gives birth, is injured or assaulted
  
• making arrangements for the care of a dependant
  
• a dependant's death
  
• the unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant
  
• an incident involving the employee's child, which occurs unexpectedly at school

The dependant is defined as a spouse, child, parent or person living in the same household as the employee (excluding tenants, lodgers, boarders and employees) and can include someone who reasonably relies upon the employee in any of the circumstances referred to above.

What can be defined as reasonable time off will depend on the circumstances of each particular case.

The employee will be required to give his employer notice of his absence as soon as is reasonably practicable and where appropriate, how long he expects to be away. If there are any significant changes to this, then the employer must be notified. Failure to notify an employer of an absence and the reason for the absence and or any changes, may cause the time off to be lost and the absence may be regarded as a disciplinary matter.

As an employee, you should be aware that if you feel that you have been unreasonably denied time off to care for a dependant, suffered a detriment or been unfairly dismissed as a result of requesting or taking dependant leave, you are not obliged to take the matter through the company's internal grievance procedure, before commencing a claim in the Employment Tribunal.

There are strict time limits for commencing claims in the Employment Tribunal and Courts.

If you believe you have a claim, please complete our Free Claim Assessment Form online now. We will then respond to you usually within 48 working hours, including a free initial assessment of your claim.

Alternatively, you can download the free claim assessment form and send it to net employment solicitors on the address on our contact page.