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De Unie in Action – Can I take a sabbatical?

07 August 2024
Sabbatical experiences

Whatever your request for help: the legal specialists at De Unie assist you during disagreements and conflicts in the workplace. To make it clearer what exactly you can benefit from us, we highlight a true situation every month. We describe the member's question and tell them what De Unie has done to resolve the situation and share the outcome with you. In this edition: how do I ensure that I can take a sabbatical?

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The problem

Natasha has been working for her employer for 26 years when she gets the idea to take a sabbatical. This gives her plenty of time to think about how she sees the rest of her career. She has a number of informal conversations with her employer about her plans. But then it is time for the formal consultations. She would like help with that, so she switches De Unie .

The principle

You have no legal right to a sabbatical. However, some collective labor agreements contain an agreement about a sabbatical. In addition, you can always request unpaid leave, although your employer may also refuse this request.

This is what the Union has done

We have checked Natasha's collective labor agreement for an agreement about sabbaticals. There is, although the scheme is not very extensive: only that it is seen as unpaid leave and that you are entitled to it once every five years, for a maximum of 13 weeks. The collective labor agreement does offer the option to take partial leave, so that you still have an income during your sabbatical.
We then gave Natasha advice for the interviews and her application. We advised her, among other things, to:

  • to submit the application on time, so that her employer could take her sabbatical into account in the planning. The collective labor agreement does not specify an exact application period, but in our opinion two months should be sufficient;
  • to indicate specifically how long she wanted a sabbatical;
  • make clear agreements about illness – what if she suddenly becomes ill during her sabbatical – and contact: how do you keep in touch with your employer and how often;
  • put all these agreements on paper.

Moreover, we offered to check the agreements once they were on paper.

The solution

Natasha followed our advice, with the result that she was able to take a sabbatical and had clear agreements about this with her employer.

 

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