Paternity Leave
Discussion
So, heres whats happening. I started a new Job on Monday after being made redundant from another company. My son is due to be born on the 4th of march 
which is only 12 or 13 weeks away. After speaking to HR She has told me to download and fill out the HMRC form ( this one http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/sc3.pdf )
On the form it says:
"4. Eligibility
You must be taking time off to look after the child and be one of the following, the:
father
husband or partner of the mother (or adopter)
child’s adopter
There are extra conditions you need to meet to qualify for ordinary or additional leave or pay.
Ordinary Paternity Leave
You must:
be an employee
have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (known as the ‘qualifying week’)
give the correct notice
The ‘qualifying week’ is different if you adopt.
Ordinary Paternity Pay
You must:
have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (known as the ‘qualifying week’)
be employed by your employer up to the date of birth
earn at least £109 a week (before tax)
give the correct notice
The ‘qualifying week’ is different if you adopt."
Now, obviously I havnt been with the firm for 26 weeks.
Do you guys know of any other i can go about getting my paternity leave? As you can probably understand, It's quite important to both me, and my girlfriend that i do get time off.
Cheers for the help
which is only 12 or 13 weeks away. After speaking to HR She has told me to download and fill out the HMRC form ( this one http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/sc3.pdf )On the form it says:
"4. Eligibility
You must be taking time off to look after the child and be one of the following, the:
father
husband or partner of the mother (or adopter)
child’s adopter
There are extra conditions you need to meet to qualify for ordinary or additional leave or pay.
Ordinary Paternity Leave
You must:
be an employee
have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (known as the ‘qualifying week’)
give the correct notice
The ‘qualifying week’ is different if you adopt.
Ordinary Paternity Pay
You must:
have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (known as the ‘qualifying week’)
be employed by your employer up to the date of birth
earn at least £109 a week (before tax)
give the correct notice
The ‘qualifying week’ is different if you adopt."
Now, obviously I havnt been with the firm for 26 weeks.
Do you guys know of any other i can go about getting my paternity leave? As you can probably understand, It's quite important to both me, and my girlfriend that i do get time off.
Cheers for the help
Speak to HR my employer exceeded their legal minimum requirements, I guess it depends on how senior or specialised your role is and how generous they are. Outside of PH you may find some employers want to appear to care about their employees and their image so do things beyond the bare minimum.
+1 to the just take holiday.
In my case despite working for my (now previous) company for 10 years I was only entitled to 3 days at full pay. I could get up to (IIRC) 2 weeks but it was at half pay and having *just* bought a new house (moved in 3 weeks before 1st was born!) that was not the time to lose a weeks wages.
I made the rest up to 2 weeks with holiday.
In my case despite working for my (now previous) company for 10 years I was only entitled to 3 days at full pay. I could get up to (IIRC) 2 weeks but it was at half pay and having *just* bought a new house (moved in 3 weeks before 1st was born!) that was not the time to lose a weeks wages.
I made the rest up to 2 weeks with holiday.
JimmyJama said:
I've been in this situation, except my daughter was born 2 weeks after I started, my previous company held me to 6 months notice. I may be missing the point but can't you just take a weeks holiday?
Taking a holiday is difficult because it has to be booked 4 weeks in advance, and theres no guarantee that the baby will come on the week i've booked off MonkeyMatt said:
thanks mate, I'll have a read through I would try and have a proper, sit down chat with your boss, and/or a senior HR person. Unless they are very nice people then taking it as holiday or unpaid leave will be your only option. But I would ask them if, under the circumstances it's possible to book a weeks holiday or unpaid leave on a flexible basis. Depending on the job, they should at least consider your request.
If they refuse, then maybe you could ask them to consider allowing you to work part time during this period, as a bit of a compromise. If you don't ask you don't get.
If they refuse, then maybe you could ask them to consider allowing you to work part time during this period, as a bit of a compromise. If you don't ask you don't get.
ReallyReallyGood said:
Any reasonable company/boss will understand your position and give you time in lieu/unpaid/holiday, it's your child's birth for god's sake! If not I'd question whether it's the kind of company you want to work for!
It depends on the size of the company. If its 5 people, then having someone just disappear like this at relatively short notice might leave them unable to cope. OP, how many people work there? Did you tell them you'd want paternity leave at the interview? If the answers are 'not many' and 'no' then I wouldn't expect any real help from them.
I work for a 'Big Four' consultancy. My wife is due in the New Year. I haven't been with the firm long enough to be entitled to paid paternity leave (which I haven't got a problem with at all) so I asked them for 2 weeks unpaid paternity leave which they've agreed to which suits me. I can take the hit on the pay but I fully understand that not everyone would be able to do so.
KFC said:
It depends on the size of the company. If its 5 people, then having someone just disappear like this at relatively short notice might leave them unable to cope.
OP, how many people work there? Did you tell them you'd want paternity leave at the interview? If the answers are 'not many' and 'no' then I wouldn't expect any real help from them.
I told them at the interview, I made sure of that. And there's only 9 of us in this office but we have hundreds of boys on site. After discussing it with the woman in HR she has said that although i wont have accrued enough holidays to take two weeks off in march, they'll give me the two weeks holiday anyway and it just means it'll take me a while to accrue them. Or if i need any time off before I've accrued my two weeks back it'll have to be unpaid. So, I'm happy anyway OP, how many people work there? Did you tell them you'd want paternity leave at the interview? If the answers are 'not many' and 'no' then I wouldn't expect any real help from them.
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