Employer refusing paternity leave

Hello! I am Gemma, a friendly legal assistant here at Lawyer Destroyer. I would be happy to explain how paternity leave works.

In short, if you meet the legal requirements and give the correct notice, your employer cannot legally refuse or postpone your statutory paternity leave.

The legal position:

To have the legal right to statutory paternity leave in England and Wales, you need to meet a few specific criteria. You must be legally classed as an employee, and you must have worked continuously for your employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the baby is expected to be born. You must also be the biological father of the child, or be the mother's husband, partner, or civil partner, and you must expect to have responsibility for the child's upbringing.

If you meet these requirements, you are legally entitled to take up to two weeks of leave.

There were some very helpful changes made to the law in April 2024. For babies due on or after 6 April 2024, you can now take your paternity leave at any time within the first year of the child's life. You can also choose to take it as two separate blocks of one week, rather than taking it all in one go or losing a week.

Notice requirements:

To secure your right to the leave, you must tell your employer that you are having a baby and that you intend to take statutory paternity leave by the end of the 15th week before the baby is due.

Under the new 2024 rules, you only need to give your employer 28 days of notice for the actual dates you want to take off work. As long as you give this correct notice, they cannot say no, and they cannot force you to postpone it to a time that suits the business better.

When an employer might legally say no:

Your employer can only refuse your statutory paternity leave if you do not meet the qualifying criteria. For example, a refusal might be lawful if you have not worked for the company long enough, if you are genuinely self-employed rather than an employee, or if you failed to give the legally required notice.

If you do not qualify, your employer must explain this to you. If you were also claiming statutory paternity pay, they must normally give you a specific government form called an SPP4 to confirm why you do not qualify.

Practical next steps:

1. Check your company policy. Many employers have their own internal paternity policies that offer more time off or better pay than the legal minimum. Check your staff handbook or employment contract to see what is offered.

2. Check your dates. Make sure you know when your 15th week before the expected week of childbirth is, and ensure you give your 28 days of notice for the exact dates you want to be away from work.

3. Talk things through informally. Have a gentle chat with your manager or your HR department. Sometimes a refusal is simply because a manager does not understand the current employment rules, especially the recent changes allowing leave to be split into two separate weeks.

4. Put your request in writing. You can use the government online form to apply for statutory paternity leave and pay. Handing this to your employer ensures you have an exact paper trail of what you asked for and when.

5. Raise a formal grievance. If you clearly qualify, have given the correct notice, and your employer is still wrongfully refusing your leave, you can raise a formal written grievance using your company's internal grievance procedure.

I hope this helps make your rights a bit clearer during what is hopefully an exciting time! Please let me know if you would like me to explain any of these steps in more detail.