Is there a difference between a career break and a sabbatical? In short, no there isn’t. The terms can be interchanged, although we notice that some assumption is made that a career break will be a shorter period of time off than a sabbatical.
For the purpose of this section, we will use the terms ‘career break’ to cover both aspects of taking a break from work.
What is a career break?
When someone requests a career break, there is no legal obligation on the organisation to say yes. As with any other requests relating to employment, the request should be genuinely considered and if it can’t be accommodated, the reasons why should be explained to the employee.
Career breaks are unpaid and because they are in essence a period where the employment ceases, salary and benefits will be suspended from the start date, until the individual returns to work. This should be clearly explained to them because, often, they may not have thought about the impact this will have on their pension contributions (they stop both ways) or other benefits such as healthcare cover.
Service of employment should continue but holiday allowance will not continue to accrue during the career break.
The organisation has the right to review its operational needs while the employee is away and has no obligation to guarantee that there will be a role to come back to. It is not a protected period of time off like maternity leave and as such, the employee can make arrangements to return to work after a career break but these arrangements are not legally binding and it could mean the ending of the existing contract of employment.
We recommend that career breaks are covered in a standalone policy or as part of the ‘Other leave’ section in the Employee Handbook. This ensures everyone is clear about the responsibilities of both parties and the possible implications of taking a career break.
Requests to shorten or extend a career break should be put in writing at the earliest opportunity and the organisation has the right to decline the request if, for example, they have put a temporary cover in place in the role and cannot release this person earlier; or they need the employee back at work due to operational reasons.
Failure to return to work on the expected date would amount to an immediate resignation from the employee and would be treated as such (unless exceptional circumstances apply). If the employee decides they do not wish to return to work, at any point during their career break, they should follow the normal process of resigning.
To request a career break, you just need to email your line manager with your request and the start and end date of the break. Your manager should then discuss the details with you and take it away for consideration. They should confirm the decision to grant, decline or postpone in writing to you and clarify what this means for your employment and benefits.
