Other Absences

Time off to deal with emergencies

You are entitled to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off during working hours to take action, which is necessary to provide help to your dependants, for example, if a dependant falls ill or is injured, if care arrangements break down, or to attend a funeral. Should this be necessary, you should discuss your situation with your line manager. As a guideline Shaper/Caper would not expect to grant leave more than 2-3 emergency requests for any individual staff member in any rolling 12-month period. In the first instance, you should call the Executive Director on their mobile phone to discuss your needs as soon as possible. Once discussed, this should be followed up with a short-term leave of absence request via the BreatheHR app. The Executive Team will consider all such requests whilst taking into account current pressures and resources, and also the amount of outstanding holiday that you have left.

Extreme weather

In the event of extreme weather conditions, for example snowfall, you are required to follow the Sickness & Absence Management Policy Procedures. If an individual cannot get into work by their normal method of transport, they should consider alternatives; for example, car sharing, trains, buses, etc. If individuals find it impossible to attend work or transfer to alternative tasks such as admin work, they should consider and agree with their Manager:

• Taking a day’s holiday • Taking a day’s unpaid leave • Rearranging the hours and making them up at another time

Court attendance and Jury service

You must notify your manager as soon as possible after receiving the summons. You’ll be given reasonable paid time off if you’re required to attend a court or tribunal as a witness or juror. You must claim allowances/expenses from the court to which staff are entitled to under the Jurors Allowances Regulations. The court will issue you with a Certificate of Loss of Earnings. You must give this to the Executive Director. You will then receive full basic pay for your jury service. You must advise the Executive Director of payment received by submitting a copy of summons detailing payment; any allowances/expenses paid will be deducted from your pay. If the court is adjourned, you must return to work on those days. If you are attending court as a result of a personal case, you have instigated you will be expected to use holiday leave for this time. If you are attending court to support a Company-related case, you will be paid.

Fertility treatment

Employees wishing to take time off to attend fertility treatment appointments should use their holiday entitlement.

Elective surgery

Elective surgery is surgery not considered to be medically necessary e.g. cosmetic surgery, laser eye treatment or vasectomies. Employees wishing to undergo such treatment should use their holiday entitlement. Any additional unpaid leave is at the discretion of the Line Manager and will be subject to the needs of the business.

Unexpected Outcomes

In the event that the outcome of the elective surgery is unexpected, and the employee suffers injury or illness, following receipt of the relevant medical certificate, the sick pay policy will apply for the relevant period.

Public/Volunteering duties

You are entitled to time off with pay for public duties as set out under statute; for example, local authority councillors. Additionally, where you are undertaking voluntary work (such as board membership) reasonable time off to attend will be considered as long as this is compatible with your workload. If you are considering taking on voluntary or other work that will require you to take time off from your normal working hours then you should seek the permission of your manager prior to any commitment being made.

Bereavement Leave

Individuals’ reactions to bereavement and serious illness vary greatly and the setting of fixed rules for time off is therefore inappropriate. You should discuss your circumstances with your Line Manager and agree appropriate time off. Any payments made at this time are at the discretion of the Executive Team. Payment will only be made on the death of a close relative and will not exceed five days paid leave. All circumstances will be heard on a case-by-case basis. A Short Term Leave of Absence Form (Appendix 4) must be completed.

Time Off for Appointments

You must make every effort to arrange any medical appointments outside of your normal working hours. If this is not possible, time off required for these purposes may be granted at the discretion of the Executive Team and will either be without pay or with the expectation that you will make up the hours. You should try to arrange the appointment at a time that can be as convenient as possible to your work for Shaper/Caper. In the first instance, you should call the Executive Director on their mobile phone to discuss your needs as soon as possible. Once discussed, this should be followed up with a short-term leave of absence request via the BreatheHR app. The Executive Team will consider all such requests whilst taking into account current pressures and resources, and also the amount of outstanding holiday that you have left.

Group and Individual Counselling

We firmly believe in fostering a positive workplace so as part of your role at Shaper/Caper, we provide an individual and group counselling service. All sessions are confidential, and the counsellor does not pass on any information from individual sessions to the Executive Team. They are there for you to use however they might help you - you can use the sessions to talk about both your professional and personal life if you wish. All employees are expected to take part in both individual and group sessions. Individual sessions should be booked at a time where you have free space in your diary and should not cause any project or meeting to have to be rearranged or covered by another member of staff as a result. The Executive Team may ask you to move your individual session to another time if required. You should mark when you are having an individual session on your calendar.