BPPL: Contact and 'Keeping in touch' days

Contact during leave

The general rule is your employer should not ask you to work during bereaved partner's paternity leave (BPPL). However, some reasonable contact between you and your employer is allowed during the leave period.

What amounts to 'reasonable contact' will depend on your particular circumstances, such as:

• Whether a mutual agreement has been reached regarding the extent and frequency of the contact
• Your position
• The nature of your job
• Whether contact is required due to important events, such as changes to the workplace, promotion opportunities or redundancy situations.

Contact can be made by any means, e.g. telephone, email, letter or a meeting in the workplace.

Your employer must not insist on you carrying out work during your BPPL. They must not punish you for refusing to do any requested work.

Keeping in touch (KIT) days

You can do up to 10 days' work for your employer during BPPL without ending it. These are called keeping in touch (or KIT) days. This can be work an employee is expected to do under your employment contract and can include training or any other activity done to keep in touch with the workplace.

Any work done on a KIT day will count as 1 KIT day, e.g. coming into work for a 1-hour training session or meeting will use up 1 KIT day.

You must be paid their usual salary for time spent working on a KIT day or, at your employer's discretion, receive paid time off in lieu of a KIT day.

Any days' work carried out will not extend your BPPL period.

A KIT day should usually be discussed, agreed and arranged in advance. Neither you nor your employer can require them to be used.