Extension to employees' rights to unpaid time off work
25th June 2008
The Government unveiled two extensions to employees' rights to time off work in its recent 2008/9 draft legislative programme.
Firstly, it is proposed that the right to request flexible working will be extended to all employees with children up to age 16. David Cameron has already indicated that he wants all parents with children under 18 to have the right to request flexible working. It therefore seems likely that the Government will be able to get this proposal through Parliament without difficulty.
The second is a new right for employees to request time off work for training. The right will apply to all employees who have been employed for not less than 26 weeks. The proposal is that the new right will operate in a similar way to the flexible working regime, in that employees may only make one request in a 12 month period, employers will have to consider requests fairly and the requests can only be refused for defined business reasons. It is not intended that employers will have to pay for the training under the proposals but the time off to attend the training would be unpaid. It is also envisaged that employees will be able to appeal to an employment tribunal if an internal appeal is unsuccessful. Tribunals may then award compensation if the complaint is upheld. Legislation bringing this into effect could be in place by 2010.
For more information, please contact:
Glasgow: Paul Brown or Michael McLaughlin - tel: 0141 228 8000
Edinburgh: Alan Strain - tel: 0131 226 5541
The information contained in this article is given for general information only and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter.