Unpaid Special Leave

Hi everyone

My apologies if this has been discussed before. I did do a search but couldn't find what I was after.

I see on www.ers.dol.govt.nz the following:

"Special leave of up to 10 days is available to a mother before maternity leave for reasons connected with pregnancy (e.g. antenatal checks). This leave is additional to the maternity and/or extended leave."

It also goes on to say that this leave is unpaid. I am wanting to speak to my boss today as I need to leave a bit earlier to go to a pregnancy related appt this afternoon. I would normally just start work a little earlier to make up the time but that isn't really an option these days due to tiredness and MS!

It sounds as if the leave is unpaid but I am on a salary so how would my employee work this out if one week I worked 37 hours (rather than the usual 40) because I went to an appt?

Help! I am clearly confused.

Or your boss might not even care at all. My boss didn't care if I made the time up or not or took it as unpaid.

I tried my best to arrange appts outside of work hours (I'm a teacher so it was a bit tricky) but had one at 2.30 one day and my boss just let me go, with pay. Talk to your boss - you might get a nice suprise

I just took half days for my Midwife until I finished with my class and my boss didn't take it from sick leave or make me do it unpaid. My MW's last appointment was 2pm and I live a 30 minute drive from work (then MW is another 15 mins away) so I had to take a half day. Many bosses don't seem to care too much, plus I know I worked hard at other times - I am sure you do too.

Now I am jsut reliving throughout my school (while on salary) I take the whole day off as a sick day - get a bonus of extra sleep that way too!