BPPL: Contact and 'Keeping in touch' days

Contact during leave

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

What amounts to 'reasonable contact' will depend on each employee's particular circumstances, such as:

• Whether a mutual agreement has been reached regarding the extent and frequency of the contact
• Their position
• The nature of their 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.

You must not insist on an employee carrying out work during their BPPL. An employee must not be punished for refusing to do any requested work.

Keeping in touch (KIT) days

An employee can do up to 10 days' work for you 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 their 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.

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

Any days' work carried out will not extend an employee's BPPL period.

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