PATERNITY LEAVE POLICY - Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service

More documents

Recommendations

Info

1.6 CONFIDENTIALITY AND THE DATA PROTECTION ACT All relevant parties will maintain confidentiality as appropriate. All records should be kept confidential and retained in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, which requires the release of certain data to individuals on their request. 1.7 REVIEWING THE POLICY The Human Resources Policy Unit will review this Policy periodically and in accordance with legislative changes. Consultation will be sought prior to any review with the appropriate Representative Bodies. 1.8 AGREEMENT WITH REPRESENTATIVE BODIES This Policy has been circulated to and agreed by the Representative Bodies in the Brigade, namely the Fire Brigades’ Union, the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance, the Transport and General Workers Union and AMICUS – Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union. 1.9 FURTHER INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE Further information and guidance can be obtained from the Human Resources Department at Brigade Headquarters. Copies of the National Joint Council for Local Government Services National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service and National Joint Council for Local Authorities'Fire Brigades Scheme of Conditions of Service are available for inspection in the Human Resources Employee Services Unit and the Library. 2 AN EMPLOYEE IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR PATERNITY LEAVE IF: 2.1 The employee has or expects to have responsibility for the baby’s upbringing and is either the biological father or the mother’s husband or partner (partner refers to someone who lives with the mother, either male or female, in an enduring family relationship, but who is not a blood relative); and 2.2 The employee has worked continuously for the Authority for 26 weeks as at the 15 th week before the EWC and will continue in this employment up to the date of birth; and 2.3 The employee is taking the time off for the purposes of either caring for the new baby or to support the mother. 2.4 In addition to the above, the employee is eligible to apply for paternity leave where, in cases of adoption, the employee is the partner who does not avail of adoption leave.
3 AMOUNT AND TIMING OF LEAVE 3.1 Full-time employees may take up to ten consecutive working days leave (for employees conditioned to the shift duty system this will be eight duty shifts, for nine day fortnight employees; this will constitute nine days leave) and the leave must be taken consecutively, eg, in a block of one or two weeks. For Retained employees this will constitute two drill nights and unavailability for fire calls during the two-week Paternity Leave period. It should be noted that time off for Paternity Leave will not be included in any calculation of non-attendance at fire calls. 3.2 Leave must be taken within 56 days of the birth, or, where the child is born earlier than expected, between the date of birth and 56 days from the first day of the EWC. Leave may start at any day of the week on or after the child's birth. 4 NOTICE REQUIREMENTS 4.1 An employee who wishes to take leave must notify in writing the appropriate Officer-in-Charge/Line Manager no later than the 15 th week before the expected week of confinement of the following: 4.1.1 The date of the EWC; 4.1.2 Whether the employee wishes to take one or two consecutive weeks/sets of leave; 4.1.3 The date the Paternity Leave is to commence. 4.2 The employee may change the commencement date provided the Officer-in-Charge/Line Manager is given at least 28 days'notice of the new start date, unless this is not reasonably practicable due to exceptional circumstances. 4.3 The employee must inform the Officer-in-Charge/Line Manager of the date of the child’s birth as soon as practicable after the birth. The Officer-in-Charge/Line Manager is responsible for notifying the Human Resources Department of the Paternity Leave request as soon as it is received from the employee. An SC198 or SC199 form should be used for this purpose. Human Resources will write to the employee to acknowledge the request and may require the employee to forward a copy of the MATB1 certificate belonging to the wife/partner confirming her pregnancy, once available.
Page 1 and 2: FIRE AUTHORITY FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
Page 3: FIRE AUTHORITY FOR NORTHERN IRELAND
Page 7: 7 RETURN TO WORK The employee is en

PATERNITY LEAVE POLICY - Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?