Shared parental rights - your questions answered

In April 2015 dramatic new rights come into force allowing parents to share the 52 weeks maternity leave relating to the birth of their child. The right also includes adoptive parents  and same sex parents. The aim is to give parents a realistic opportunity to take blocks of time off to share the care and involvement in caring for their new child. However, the rights relate to children born on or after the 6th April 2015 but other changes involving ante natal appointments will come into force much earlier. It is important employers are aware of these or they could find themselves responding inappropriately. Here HR expert David Wright answers some of your common questions on the subject of shared parental rights. I understand fathers are now to be given time off to attend ante natal appointments with their partners is this correct? Yes, the right relates to fathers, same sex couples, civil partners, and so on. From the 1 October they are allowed time off to attend two ante natal appointments. The time is limited to two appointments. The right exists from day one of employment and is not subject to any length of service Normally time off for ante natal appointments is paid. Will I have to give my male staff the same? No, the time off is normally unpaid. The time off is limited to 6.5 hours per day maximum. In reality most appointments including travel will be less but the time off is capped at a half day. Under the European working time regulations a  maximum day is 13 hours and that is where the 6.5 hour cap comes from. What if the partner wishes to attend all the appointments and scans? This might well be the case but the legal entitlement is for two appointments and it would be entirely up to the employer if they granted time off to attend any more. What happens if time off is declined? There might be exceptional business reasons but if a request is unreasonably declined the employee has three months to lodge a claim with an Employment Tribunal who can order payment at twice the employees hourly rate for the hours requested as compensation. What if the employee is the father of two separate partners? This is going to happen somewhere and in theory the employee has the right to attend 2 x 2 appointments If the maternity leave can be shared what happens to the “keep in touch days” It will be called “Shared Parental Leave “ rather than maternity leave and each partner will be able to work up to 20 keep in touch days, currently the mother is limited to 10 days. David Wright advises Habia and a range of salons across the UK. For an all-inclusive fee of £225, plus VAT, per annum you are able to contact him with all your employment queries and he will guide you through difficult staff issues. The fee is all inclusive no matter how many times you need him. Contact David on 07930 358067, 01302 563691 or visit www.davidwrightpersonnelsupport.co.uk