You can take it for urgent reasons relating to the injury or illness of certain family members as outlined in the Force Majeure & Medical Care Leave Policy. However, it is limited to circumstances where your immediate presence, at the place where the ill or injured person is situated is indispensable.
Page updated 21 May 2024
A member of staff shall be entitled to leave with pay for urgent family reasons, for example, an injury or illness of a child, spouse/partner, brother or sister, parent or grandparent. This is called Force Majeure Leave and falls under the Force Majeure & Medical Care Leave Policy.
This leave is limited to circumstances where your immediate presence at the place where the ill or injured person is situated is indispensable. In this section you can find more about the Force Majeure process and browse Frequently Asked Questions.
Force Majeure Leave
(see Force Majeure & Medical Care Leave Policy)
Force Majeure Leave is detailed within the Force Majeure & Medical Care Leave Policy This page contains a summary of the Policy but in all cases the Policy listed in the Governance Document Library remains the ultimate source of information.
Process for taking Force Majeure Leave
As soon as it is reasonably practicable upon your return to work after an absence on Force Majeure Leave, you must complete and sign the “Force Majeure Leave Application Form” below and have it countersigned by the Head of School/Unit/Line Manager and forward it to UCD HR at (opens in a new window)hrhelpdesk@ucd.ie
What happens next?
You will receive an email from UCD HR confirming:
- Receipt of your “Force Majeure Leave Application Form”
- Your Force Majeure leave dates
Employee Assistance Service
The UCD (EAS) is a 24/7 free and confidential support service designed to assist you in dealing more effectively with any personal or work-related problems you might be facing. The service is operated confidentially by Spectrum.Life, the largest provider of employee health and wellness services in Ireland.
The service can be used by a UCD employee, their spouse, civil partner and dependents where the family member can be described as over the age of 18 and residing in the family home.
- Freephone 1800 814 243 (Ire)
- WhatsApp & SMS: Text ‘Hi’ to 087 369 0010
- Email: (opens in a new window)eap@spectrum.life
Forms
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes.
Three days in any period of twelve consecutive months or five days in any period of thirty-six consecutive months.
Force Majeure Leave is granted to one of the following prescribed persons (as described in the Parental Leave Act, 1998, as amended 2019).
a) a person of whom the employee is the relevant parent or acting in loco parentis
b) a spouse, civil partner, or cohabitant of the employee
c) a brother, sister or sibling
d) a parent or grandparent
e) a person who resides with the employee in a relationship of domestic dependency
No, Force Majeure Emergency Leave cannot be taken for future scheduled medical procedure/appointments. There would be optimum time to a make alternative arrangements.
An employee may be required to produce relevant evidence such as medical certification or evidence as may be reasonably required in order to show that the person concerned is or was in need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason.
Contact the HR Helpdesk
The HR Helpdesk is the primary point of contact for all your employment-related queries by email and telephone. We are here to help you with any queries on employee benefits, terms & conditions and HR policies & procedures. If we can’t help you directly, we will refer your query to a HR specialist area.
All visitors to UCD HR, Roebuck offices should be by appointment only and arrangements to be made with specific HR staff members.
(opens in a new window)hrhelpdesk@ucd.ie
+ 353-1-716-4900
UCD HR
Roebuck Offices,
UCD Belfield Campus.