Working Hours – Emergency Leave

All employees are entitled to reasonable unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a depend ant. A dependant is a spouse, partner, child or parent or a person who lives with the employee (but not a lodger). However, it could also be someone else who reasonably relies on the employee for care, for example, an elderly neighbour.

Incidents covered by emergency leave

• When a dependant is ill, injured or assaulted and when an employee needs to make longer-term care arrangements for a dependant who is ill or injured.
• When an employee needs to deal with an unexpected problem in care arrangements, for example, if their child minder is ill.
• When an employee needs to deal with an incident involving their child during school hours, for example, suspension from school.
• When an employee needs to arrange or attend a dependant’s funeral.
• When a dependant goes into labour.

The right to reasonable time off

• The amount of time isn’t fixed.
• It should be enough time to allow the employee to deal with the immediate problem and put any other necessary care arrangements in place.

Other reason for additional leave

An employee might want time off work for personal reasons in addition to their paid holiday entitlement. These reasons could include: moving house, a doctor’s appointment, or the funeral of a non-dependant relative. Employees do not have a statutory right to this time off. You should have a written policy to cover these situations or you can give discretionary leave on an individual basis. Where an employee doesn’t have a statutory right to time off, you can use your discretion to allow time off and pay them for the time off.

More information

• Working Hours – Employee Hours & Break Entitlement
• Working Hours – Flexible Working Hours
• Working Hours – Paid Holiday Entitlement
• Working Hours – Notice for Paid Holiday
• Working Hours – Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave & Parental Leave
• Working Hours – Statutory Sick Pay
• Working Hours – Business Trading Hours