Teachers's strike: will your employees be affected?

The first national teachers’ strike in 21 years will hit more than 6,000 schools in England and Wales, which could have a knock-on effect for many workplaces.  

As tens of thousands of children will be sent home, many employees may have to take time off or phone in sick as emergency childcare becomes scarce.  

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Miles Templeman, director general of the Institute of Directors, said he was very concerned about the impact of the strike on businesses:

“Apart from the disruptive effect on the children themselves, it will be very disruptive, particularly for small companies. The impact on them is larger because they won't be able to make arrangements to cover people who are absent.”

However, Templeman believes staff will be hesitant about calling in sick:

“I think when something is as public as this, people will say 'I have to take time off'. I don't think they will make up stories. Everyone is very aware about it. We would be very anxious for this strike to be avoided.”

According to Workplace Law Network’s white paper, Expect the Unexpected: emergency leave and employees’ rights, all employees have the right to take a “reasonable” amount of time off work to deal with emergencies involving their dependants.  

The right is set out under sections 57A and 57B of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996), and provides that an employee is entitled to take a reasonable amount of unpaid time off work where it is necessary for the following reasons: 

• to provide assistance if a dependant falls ill (mentally or physically), gives birth, is injured or assaulted. In the case of assault the individual does not need to have been physically hurt, it is enough if they are distressed and need comforting or assistance (an illness or injury does not have to be life threatening);
• to make longer term care arrangements for the provision of care for a dependant who is ill or injured, which would include, for example, arranging to employ a temporary carer or taking a sick child to stay with relatives;
• in consequence of the death of a dependant, for example to make funeral arrangements or to attend the funeral;
• to deal with the unexpected disruption, termination or breakdown of arrangements for the care of a dependant; or
• to deal with an unexpected incident which involves the employee’s child during school (or another educational establishment’s) hours.

It should be noted that the right to take time off is in order to deal with the immediate situation and/or make arrangements for the care of a dependent; it does not entitle the employee to take time off to provide ongoing care themselves.

For more information, premium members of the Workplace Law Network can download this white paper now »