Time off for fertility treatment?

Employees have no specific statutory right to take time off work to undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or other fertility treatment before the stage at which they are pregnant. However, as a minimum, you should treat time off for fertility appointments in the same way as any other medical appointments, e.g. if you allow up to two hours off work per medical appointment, you should allow at least the same time off for a fertility appointment, and if you pay staff for time off for medical appointments, you should do the same with fertility appointments.

The intensive demands of IVF mean that more time off may be required, which you could allow the employee to take as a combination of paid leave, unpaid leave or holiday. You could also agree to a temporary informal flexible working arrangement, e.g. allowing them to make up the time, or to work from home if they live near their fertility clinic. You may also have contractual provisions in place governing paid or unpaid time off for fertility treatment, so make sure to check contracts and policies.

If the IVF is successful and they remain pregnant, they have the same entitlements as any other pregnant employee, e.g. a right to paid time off for antenatal appointments, protection against pregnancy and maternity discrimination and a right to maternity leave. If the IVF embryo implantation fails, the employee’s pregnancy and maternity discrimination protection will end two weeks after the negative pregnancy test.  If they are then absent on medical grounds following their pregnancy loss, this would be sick leave. However, the Employment Rights Bill is being amended to extend a new statutory right to at least one week of unpaid bereavement leave to cover employees who suffer a pregnancy loss after less than 24 weeks of pregnancy in any way other than by a live birth, and this will include IVF embryo implantation failure.