What should my partner do about work when I’m in labour

He just phones in and says you’re going into labour, they’ll either pay him as special leave that day or unpaid or some other form that’s policy for his company, and then his paternity leave starts once baby is born. But he should ask his work what they expect of him as that’s his responsibility anyway to know, not for you to worry about x

Paternity leave can’t start before the baby is born, but most work places would just let partners go once your in labour, although this is probably unpaid leave unless their workplace have a policy of paying during this time

The minute you’re in labour he tells his work he’s not coming in and starting paternity leave. If he’s at work he just tells them he’s leaving and starting his paternity xx

As an employer we’ve only dealt with this once but allowed him to take the labour date as a paid leave of absence then started his paternity leave the day after. We got notice of his partners labour during the night so whilst it was inconvenient we of course understood and just had to deal with it (we’re a small business and so it’s probably even easier for larger companies!)

My partner was due to work the day after I had baby so he messaged his manager to say he won't be in when I was in labour. He had that day (Wednesday) off, we left hospital on Thursday (a non-workday), then he had work Friday and Sunday. He'd booked 2 weeks of holiday starting the Monday before I was due but baby decided 8 days early was the way to go 😂 then he had paternity leave. It was hard the two days he went in that first week but, especially the Friday when we were sent into hospital for jaundice, it was harder for him - I just sent lots of pictures. He could've easily said 'paternity leave starts now' when she was born but we did what worked for us. If I went into labour while he was at work he would've just left (depending if he was on his own/who he was working with he may have waited a bit for someone to take over, but he would've had to wait for a taxi or lift anyway as he doesn't drive).

@Carys thank you it really helped xxx

@Lizzie thank you xx

@Hayley thank you xxx

@Mish thank you ❤️xxxx

@Jami thank you so much xxxx

He has to notify his employer of your due date by a certain time, and then around that date they just kinda take each day as it comes as in he might be at work, he might not. I actually ended up going into labour the Saturday night so he messaged work and said he would have his two weeks off from the Monday.

I think this will be something that differs person to person. For example my partner works with someone whose baby was born a couple of days ago 4 and a half weeks early. He has decided to keep working for now (4 on 4 off) until his partner and baby are able to come home and will then start his paternity leave. For me I got to 12 days late and because of how the days worked we knew his paternity leave would have started then as I would otherwise have been induced at 12 days. He carried on working when I didn’t go into labour rather than starting paternity leave when I was due, as this made more sense x

My due date was last Sunday, still no baby. My husband told work the due date and has been going in this week. I'm booked to be induced tomorrow. He'll either be letting them know on Monday that his leave is starting or I'll still be in labour and he won't be in work but will probably use some holiday to cover any time before he can start leave

You'll need to use your mat B form for him employer so they know the estimatated due date. And around then they'll know he may have to leave at any time. My husband went into work this morning I went into labour and I called around lunch time and he just left work. We had our baby that evening, so his paternity leave started the following day. I was 2 weeks early, but everyone was expecting it to happen at some point and he had ready starter to hand things over for his leave.

@Lucie the only thing is he’s self employed so we figured it out xxxx