Career breaks from employment are longer
than normal leave entitlements.
Initially, many were aimed at high
flying professional women who felt they
needed to spend more time with their
young children before returning to their
careers.
The way the career break
package is presented varies and often
schemes are restricted to
family-friendly initiatives, with
separate arrangements operating for
sabbaticals, educational leave and
secondments.
Legal issues can arise around the
status of the employee during the break.
The organisation can decide to
continue the contract of employment and
this is often the case with sabbaticals,
education leave, rehabilitation leave,
extended holidays, etc.
The majority of longer-term
employment break schemes require the
employee to resign formally from
employment at the beginning of the
break. Statutory rights need to be
earned again on return, although the
employer can choose to bridge
contractual benefits.
Any employers state their commitment
and what they expect from the employee
in a letter of agreement, which both
parties sign. Any failure to abide by
this agreement could be enforced legally
if problems cannot be solved amicably by
both parties.
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