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Sometimes, your staff will need to take time off work to make a medical appointment. This may be to attend an appointment with their local GP, dentist or opticians or to attend a hospital appointment. Generally, you are not obligated to grant employees time off for medical appointments. There are certain exceptions to this, which this article will consider. It will also evaluate why you may opt to allow employees time off for medical appointments even if you are not obligated to do so.
Employee Medical Appointments: Employer Obligations
Employees do not have a general right to take time off work to attend medical appointments. Therefore, you do not have to honour any requests as an employer. It is up to you if and how you allow your staff time off for appointments.
That said, there are certain exceptions to this general rule.
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Pregnancy-related medical appointments |
The law makes an express exception for pregnant employees attending any antenatal appointment. Antenatal appointments are any medical appointments related to the employee’s pregnancy or the health of their unborn baby.
If you fail to do so, you substantially increase the risk of an employee making an unlawful discrimination claim against your business. |
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Accommodating disabilities |
The law requires employers to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees where you should reasonably know that the individual in question is disabled.
Employees with medical disabilities are likely to attend medical appointments more routinely than those without.
The key factor an employment tribunal will assess is whether you failed to make a reasonable adjustment. Specifically, if you have a general policy prohibiting appointments, this may be a practice that substantially disadvantages a disabled employee. By softening the policy, you would be making a reasonable adjustment.
Therefore, if you are aware of an employee’s disability and refuse their requests to attend medical appointments during working hours, they can indirectly claim unlawful discrimination. |
Therefore, while employees do not have a general right to attend medical appointments during working hours, you may need to approve requests. Failing to do so may give rise to an employee claim against your business for other protected characteristics.
Medical Appointments: Practical Implications
Though the law does not require you to grant requests for medical appointments, you should consider incorporating reasonable measures in your employee absence policy. Additionally, you should specify any entitlement for appointments in each employee’s employment contract.
Specifically, you should determine:
- how much time off per year an employee can take for appointments; and
- the procedure for requesting time off.
Many employers commonly allow employees to take paid time for appointments out of their sick leave allowance. Alternatively, you may treat time off for medical appointments as:
- annual leave;
- flexi-time; or
- time that must be made up that day/week/month outside of regular hours.
Allowing your employees reasonable paid time off to attend appointments demonstrates a commitment to protecting the welfare and health of your employees. This will improve your standing as an employer. It will also ensure your employees are fit for work.
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Key Takeaways
There is no law requiring you to allow your employees to take paid time off work to make a medical appointment. Nor are you even required to let them take unpaid time off. The exceptions are if your employee is pregnant and making an antenatal appointment or if they are disabled. But even if there is no legal requirement, there are many practical reasons to do so. Most importantly, having an adequate leave policy for appointments protects the welfare and health of your employees.
If you need help understanding your obligations concerning employees taking time off for medical appointments in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Strictly speaking, no, you do not. The exception is if your employees are pregnant or disabled; failure to do so could amount to unlawful discrimination. That said, there are practical benefits to implementing a reasonable absence policy permitting medical appointments during working hours.
If you do not wish to grant your employees an allotted number of hours or days per year they can use for medical appointments, consider alternatives. These include allowing paid medical visits out of sick leave.
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