Renfrewshire Council

What menopause related paid leave you can get

You may need some time off work for professional or specific support to help you manage or recover from the effects of menopause.

You can request up to 5 days paid leave per year, or pro-rata of 5 days if you do not work full-time.

The leave can be taken in hours, half days or days, subject to the responsibilities of your job.

This leave can be used to:

• get support and advice from healthcare professionals like a specialist nurse or GP or other organisations
• attend menopause related appointments, for example in relation to skin or hair changes, or a sexual health clinic to discuss contraception.

If attending an appointment, you will need to show your manager confirmation of the appointment, such as an appointment card, email, letter or text.

This is recorded as Menopause Leave (appointment) on Business World.

You can also request menopause leave to help you manage or recover from the effects of menopause, if you are getting support from your manager, trade union representative, or HR and OD Adviser,

This is recorded as Menopause Leave (symptoms) on Business World.

Managing requests for menopause related paid leave

If your team member asks for leave for menopause related appointments, you will need confirmation of their appointment.

They can also request menopause related leave to help them manage or recover from the effects of menopause. You will need to consider their request with HR and OD before you can record it on Business World, if it is approved.

When considering leave requests, you should: 

• be sympathetic to the circumstances surrounding the request
• consider the business needs of your service
• apply a fair and consistent approach across your team
• get advice from HR and OD with individual requests if needed.

How managers record menopause related paid leave

As a manager, you must record all requests for menopause leave on Business World.

There are two types of menopause leave your team member can use:

• Menopause Leave (appointment) - if they have an appointment with a health professional or other service in relation to the menopause.
• Menopause Leave (symptoms) - if they need time off due to symptoms of the menopause

Record menopause leave on Business World

Recording menopause leave is the same as logging other unplanned absences on Business World, like sickness or industrial injury.

To record a new request for menopause leave:

1. Log into Business World.
2. On the home screen, go to Your employment and select Absences.
3. Click on Add at the bottom of the Absences panel.
4. In the Absence entry panel, find your team member by typing their name or their Resource ID. You can also click into the Resource ID field and hit the space bar to bring up the full list of colleagues you line manage.
5. Select Menopause from the list in the Absence code field.
6. Select either Appointment or Symptoms from the Absence reason field.

If you need to attach a document for an Appointment leave request:

1. Click on the paperclip icon in the top right to attach an appointment letter or other document.
2. On the Document Archive screen, click on Menopause Documents in the left-hand menu, then click on Add a document.
3. Select Menopause Documents from the Document type field.
4. Click Upload beside the File name to find and add your document.
5. Add a Document title. You can also add a file Description if you wish.
6. Click on Save. You'll see your saved document on the Document Archive screen. Close this screen to continue the leave request.

If it's a Symptoms leave request, you don't need to add any documents.

Complete the leave request:

1. To record the leave in days, select the Date from and Date to. The Time from and Time to will auto-fill when you enter the number of days.
2. To record the leave in hours, select the Date from and Date to. Enter the Time to first and then the Time from.
3. Select Planned for appointment leave, or Unplanned for symptoms leave, from the Leave type field.
4. Click on Save.
5. You will then see a pop-up confirmation once the entry has saved. Click OK to close this notification.

To view menopause leave requests you've already recorded:

1. Log into Business World
2. On the home screen, go to Your employment and select Absences
3. Click on Open at the bottom of the Absences panel
4. Select the employee from the Resource field and click on Load.
5. Tick all the four boxes selected in the Status panel, if they are not already selected.

You'll see the recorded menopause leave on the Absences panel, as well as any other sickness or injury absence recorded for that team member.

You can also view menopause leave within Calendar views. On the home screen, go to the Your employment panel and select All Employees Calendar. You'll then see a calendar view of all sickness, injury or menopause leave you've inputted.