Unpaid Leave for Exams

S

summerday

Guest
Hi

I am permanent in my job for the past 6 years, I need to take 10 weeks off for educational purposes. I have no holidays left to take this year. I am planning on asking my employers for unpaid leave. If they say no I will have no alternative but to hand in my notice and I really dont want to do this. They have mad alot of people redundant in the past year, so I dont no what the likelihood of giving me unpaid leave. Does anyone know my entitlements
 
There is no statutory entitlement to leave for educational purposes. I would talk to your boss about it and see what arrangement you can come to. 10 weeks does seem very long though, do you have that many exams?
 
Hi Purple,

I am doing a HDIP in primary teaching part-time but I have to go to the Gaeltacht this summer for 4 weeks and then do teaching pratice exam for 6 weeks in a school. Thats all the time I need off while im doing the course so its a shame if I have to leave work if they dont give me the time off.
 
In fairness, this would probably suggest to your employer that you'll be leaving anyway, at some point in the future. In the circumstances, they may wonder (a) what's in it for them to facilitate you by granting unpaid leave, and (b) how they'll square that with the staff they're making redundant.
 

Is your teaching course related to your current job? It might be tricky for them to agree to it if they themselves feel they won't benefit from your time out of the office. They might find they need to hire someone to cover you while you're out, which will be costly on them, even without having your salary to pay. I guess the best way to approach it is to come up with ways your company will benefit from this. If it's win-win then they might be more likely to accommodate you.

On the other hand, you don't want them to realise that they could get by without you for 10 weeks, and then question whether your role could in fact be redundant, so in a way it might be better if they feel your absence would be a loss to them! Difficult situation...
 
You will need to be careful here.
In this climate a lot of employers would love to give full-time staff an unpaid career break. However, they'd love even more to give the client a P45. Ideally you need to convince your employer the benefits of giving you a career break instead of the old "you'll need to leave your job and reapply" line.
some larger companies have unpaid leave programmes for between 2-12 weeks, and even career breaks for longer periods. It's unlikely yours does or you would have known about it.
 
Unfortunately I didnt get the time off so I have resigned, I have been witht the company 6 years. I have a mortgage etc, how do I go about claiming job seekers benefit, do i have to wait a certain amount of time, or what are my entitlements now as a full time student.
 
As you will be a full time student, you won't be available for work, and therefore won't qualify for Jobseekers Benefit.
I don't think there is any social welfare option available to you, as Back to Education etc are dependant on you having been unemployed for a period of time prior to taking up education.
 

Talk to your employer.

Can you work up time? weekends etc?
Can you bring holidays forward?
 
I'm not convinced you've thought this through but I Hope it works out for you.


If you played your cards right you might have gone with some redundancy money in your back pocket.I would have also found out about your entitlemenst before you handed in your notice.

If your Hdip guarantees you a teaching job at the end of it then it's not a biggy. Enjoy your 10 weeks.
 
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