Right to unpaid carer’s leave
Many employees have to balance their work and family responsibilities. They can already take time off at short notice if they need to take care of a family member (time off for dependants). But until now, they didn't have the right to request time off for other non-urgent reasons.
From April 2024, this will change. The Carer's Leave Regulations 2024 will allow employees to apply for one week of unpaid carer's leave within a 12-month period. Key features include:
The right being a day-one employment right.
The right applies to employees who have a dependant with a long-term care need and want to be absent from work to provide or arrange care for that dependant. A dependant is defined as a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent, or someone who depends on the employee for care.
Requests can be in consecutive or non-consecutive half-days or full days.
Employees must give notice in writing of their intention to take carer’s leave – confirming their entitlement to take it and giving at least twice the amount of notice than the period of leave requested or, if longer, three days’ notice.
Employers can postpone a request if it would disrupt the operation of the business. In these circumstances, the employer must give notice of the postponement before the leave is due to begin, explaining why the postponement is necessary. The employer must then allow the leave to be taken within one month of the start date of the leave originally requested. Rescheduling the leave should happen in consultation with the employee.
Employees are protected from detriment and dismissal because they take or seek to take carer’s leave, or the employer believes they are likely to do so.
Contact Tom to discuss this further.
