Time off for job interviews

[MitchT]

What is a person legally entitled to in terms of taking time off for job interviews? Do you have to use holiday time or are you legally entitled to use work's time? I'm asking for my OH who is on a fixed-term contract which ends on 2 September and which she has only just been told will not be renewed, even though she is overrun with work and is being asked by overseas offices for continued input beyond September. (Go figure!). She has quite a few interviews lined-up and is wondering what her rights are with regard to time off.

[Lefty]

MitchT said:

What is a person legally entitled to in terms of taking time off for job interviews? Do you have to use holiday time or are you legally entitled to use work's time? I'm asking for my OH who is on a fixed-term contract which ends on 2 September and which she has only just been told will not be renewed, even though she is overrun with work and is being asked by overseas offices for continued input beyond September. (Go figure!). She has quite a few interviews lined-up and is wondering what her rights are with regard to time off.

I wouldn't be happy paying one of my contractors to go on interviews!

[greygoose]

I'd be amazed if they gave her time off to get a job somewhere else (unless she was being made redundant).

[MitchT]

She isn't a contractor as such, more a member of staff who's contact was fixed from the beginning. They seem to do that with everyone at my place these days. They're on the payroll just like the permanent staff, not contractors who invoice for their services.

She isn't being made redundant as such, but she has been told that her contract, which expires on 2 September, will not be renewed, so it's practically the same as being made redundant if not legally the same.

Anyway, what I'm looking for here are factual answers from anyone who knows, not how employers might 'feel' about a member of their staff doing the same.

[hornetrider]

Send my best wishes to your OH for her sore tooth, I hope it gets well soon.

Oh, and her bad back.

[anonymous-user]

She will need to take holiday, there is no legal obligation for her company to give her time off for interviews.

[Du1point8]

I find out on monday what the situation is with my own contract which finishes end of August, if they decide to let me go I will book up a few days for interviews and if they try and stop me (overrun with work at the moment) I will just take sick days...

No way Im going to run to the end of the contract and then look for a job, it doesnt work like that in my industry as positions take up to 4 weeks to interview for.