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The Department for Business offers advice to help bosses manage their obligations as an employer Picture the scene: You’re on the phone to an angry customer, whilst at the same time looking at a disappointing balance sheet and thinking about areas of the business where you can cut costs. Just when you think your day can’t get worse, an email pops up from a member of the team enquiring about his parental leave rights. You didn’t even know he had kids!
‘‘It is no secret that running a successful small business involves a great deal of multitasking”, says Employment Relations Minister Pat McFadden. “Many business owners turn to external advisers for help with employment obligations as a way to tick one item off a very long list. However the government provides a lot of the advice needed to deal with these issues free of charge, and it is often simpler than people think to cut down on using consultants which can help save time and money."
The Department for Business offers free and practical advice to help small business owners meet their employment obligations. Dealing with parental leave does not need to be complicated, keep it simple and remember the following:
- The basics: parental leave is about helping parents with young or disabled children but can only be taken after one year’s continuous service with the company
- Numbers: Parents are entitled to 13 weeks unpaid parental leave per year for each child. Parental leave can be taken at any time up to the child’s fifth birthday or in the first five years of placement in the case of adoption. Parents of disabled children can take up to 18 weeks per year up to the child’s 18th birthday
- Manage your business needs: Remember that parents who want to take their parental leave typically have to give 21 days notice and this leave must be taken in multiples of one week (unless the child is disabled in which case it can be taken on individual days). Hopefully this will help you try and accommodate requests alongside running your business
- Postponement: If an employee taking parental leave would cause serious disruption to your business, remember you can delay it. This is easy – write to your employee within seven days of receiving their notification, explaining why you need to postpone their leave and at the same time, confirm the new start and end date
- Transfers: Parental leave cannot be transferred between carers or between employers
- Requesting evidence: You can ask your employee for evidence that they are either the parent of a child or have parental responsibility. Possible evidence includes the child’s birth certificate, adoption papers or disability living allowance payments
- Reasonable requests: Ensure you are reasonable with your requests for evidence. For example, you shouldn’t need to ask for evidence each time your employee requests some parental leave
- Returning employees: Employees remain employed while on parental leave and some terms of their contract still apply, including contractual notice and redundancy terms. Ultimately, this means less paperwork for you!
For further advice about parental leave and other areas of employment law, visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/employingpeople
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