• Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
Call us now: 01243 836 840   [email protected]
Pure Employment Law
  • Who We Are
    • Nicola Brown
    • Peter Stevens
    • Elena Elsam
    • David Jones
    • Linda Nye
    • Brenda Cherry
  • For Employers
    • Advice on HR and People issues
    • Investigations, Hearings and Appeals
    • Restructuring and Redundancy
    • Defending Employment Tribunal Claims
    • Dismissal of Senior Executives
    • Contracts, Handbooks and Policies
    • Employment Law Training
  • For Employees
    • Settlement Agreements
    • Workplace Issues including Disciplinary and Grievance
    • Bringing an Employment Tribunal Claim
  • Employment Law Events
  • Legal Updates
  • Testimonials
  • Vacancies
  • Contact us
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Q&A: Supporting employees who are also carers

23rd October 2016/in News /by Nicola Brown

Question: We have an employee who has been with us for 5 years. However, for the past 6 months’ her performance at work has been declining. When we informally asked her about this, she explained that she is struggling to get enough sleep because her elderly mother, who lives with her, is unwell and she has to care for her. Aside from the recent performance issues, the employee is exceptional and we do not want to lose her. What can we do to help?

Answer: These types of scenarios are cropping up more and more. Research by the Carers Trust has shown that one worker in eight is a carer, and this is set to increase in the future.

From the information you have given above, it seems you may be willing to consider a flexible working request from this employee. Employees with more than 26 weeks’ service are able to lodge a flexible working request, provided they have not made such a request in the previous 12 months. This is something that you could make the employee aware of, and many employers have flexible working policies which set out the process for making and dealing with any such requests. If you have such a policy, you could direct her to that. If her initial request cannot be accommodated for business reasons, then you could discuss alternatives with her and try and come up with a compromise. You can see out previous article on flexible working requests here.

The employee in question may find that reducing her hours allows her to manage her caring responsibilities and work much better. Obviously her income would drop and this would need to be made clear to her, but she may find that the drop in income allows her to claim a state benefit, and you could direct her to a benefits advisor or organisation who can assist and advise her about claiming relevant benefits.

If an emergency arises related to her mother (or another dependent), the employee has a right to take a reasonable period of unpaid time off to deal with that, and again this is something you may wish to make the employee aware of. Such time off will usually be for no more than one or two days to enable the employee to deal with the emergency and make any further arrangements for care. You may have a policy about taking time off for dependents, and you could direct the employee to that policy for further information.

The employee may find that she is not able to manage both work and caring for her mother, so she may decide to leave her job. The employee would need to provide her contractual notice, or you could agree for her to leave earlier than the end of her notice period if she requested this and you agreed to it. In those circumstances, perhaps you could say that you would be happy to re-employ the employee if she finds herself available to work again. However, the warning here is that you should not create any expectation, or give the impression that this is an absolute promise unless you are prepared for it to be binding. It would be prudent to make it clear that her re-employment would depend on the business situation at the time.

There is nothing to prevent you from going beyond what the legal requirements are, such as offering for paid time off to deal with an emergency rather than unpaid time off, but you should bear in mind that if you do this you can set a precedent and other employees may seek the same treatment. If you fail to provide the same treatment without justification, other employees could claim this is for a discriminatory reason (i.e. similar treatment was refused because of their gender, race, etc), and raise a claim in the Employment Tribunal.

If you manage to sort out flexible working with the employee, but her performance continues to decline despite having agreed to reduced hours, then you may need to commence a performance/capability management process to address this. I would recommend that you seek further advice at the time if you found that was the case.

If you would like to talk through a situation you are dealing with, or if you need advice on any aspect of employment law, please contact any member of the Pure Employment Law team (01243 836840 or [email protected]).

Please note that this update is not intended to be exhaustive or be a substitute for legal advice. The application of the law in this area will often depend upon the specific facts and you are advised to seek specific advice on any given scenario.

 

Share this article
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
https://www.pureemploymentlaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Pure-Employment-Law-logo.jpg 0 0 Nicola Brown https://www.pureemploymentlaw.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Pure-Employment-Law-logo.jpg Nicola Brown2016-10-23 10:00:352017-11-23 15:17:49Q&A: Supporting employees who are also carers

Join our mailing list

* = required field
Mailing Lists


Recent Legal Updates

  • What to expect during 2021 – employment law developments 21st January 2021
  • Did “office banter” about an employee’s memory amount to age discrimination? 21st January 2021
  • Update on Furlough 20th January 2021
  • Restricting Restrictive Covenants? 20th January 2021
  • Q&A: What to expect from a remote Tribunal hearing 20th January 2021
Link to: Contact Us

Any questions? Why not get in touch!

Our advice is always given in plain English without any waffle, and we focus on providing practical solutions to our clients’ problems.

Contact us

LEGAL INFORMATION

Pure Employment Law | 1 Little London, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1PH
[email protected] | Tel: 01243 836840

Pure Employment Law is the trading name of Pure Employment Law Limited, registered in England and Wales with company number 07134294 and whose registered office is 1 Little London, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 1PH. Pure Employment Law Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with registration number 533794. A list of the company’s directors is available for inspection at the registered office

DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by Pure Employment Law and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Terms & Conditions | How to make a complaint | Sitemap

© Pure Employment Law 2021

Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies as defined in our cookie policy.

Accept Cookie Policy

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only