As you probably know all too well, when it comes to personal leave in the workplace, there are a number of grey areas…

And on a fairly regular basis, I see the very same questions about these grey areas popping up in the Workplace Helpdesk.

So today, I thought I would share the two questions about personal leave we receive most often – and show you the answers our experts at Holding Redlich gave.

Here goes with question number one…

1. If an employee has booked in a medical appointment (e.g. doctor, dentist etc.) and needs time off for this (say 2 hours in the afternoon), is this classified as personal leave or not?

   Generally speaking doctor’s appointments for ‘non-incapacitating’ injuries or illnesses are not considered sufficient basis for taking personal leave. However, you should note that it would be extremely risky to ‘dock’ an employee’s pay for absences like these.

   Therefore, it might be more reasonable to request that the employee take unpaid leave for their doctor’s visits or perhaps ask that they arrange for any appointments to occur during a lunch break. Of course the employee is free to use their annual leave for this purpose as well.

Continues below…

And number two…

2. If an employee is undergoing an elective surgery, are they entitled to take personal leave for this – even though it was their choice to have it?

   Strictly speaking personal leave is available for illness or injury. However, if the elective procedure is such that the employee will be unfit to work (e.g. because they have been under a general anaesthetic), it would be permissible in our view to allow the employee to use any personal leave they may have – even though the procedure is elective.

Stay tuned for Friday’s Bulletin – Charles is going to go over how to deal with a situation I’m sure many of you have found yourselves in.

Tags: personal leave