Employment Law SOS: sabbatical
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One of our production managers has requested a six-month sabbatical. We are inclined to agree but it will impact on his colleagues. What do we need to consider before we formally respond?
There is no legal obligation to agree to this request for a sabbatical and, before agreeing, you should consider how your decision will impact on future similar requests (you may wish to use your thinking around this request as an opportunity to prepare a short sabbatical policy for future use).
As the employer, if you wish to agree to the request, you should also consider whether or not the sabbatical will be paid and what will happen to the manager's role while he is away – ie, if it will impact on other employees, consider whether there is a need to hire a fixed-term replacement or ask existing staff to be prepared to cover the role and back fill their positions.
You need to agree whether the contract of employment will continue during the sabbatical. If you wish it to continue (most often employers do allow this), you'll need to make it clear what will happen at the end of the leave and whether there is a guarantee to return to the current job or only any available position.
While salary will be suspended, consider whether other benefits are to continue. By law, the right to accrue paid statutory holiday will continue if there is a continuing contract of employment.
Finally, clarify whether the manager is allowed to undertake charity work, research or any paid work during the sabbatical and whether he can return early without prior notice.
