Time off for gender reassignment surgery letter

Where an employee requests time off work in order to undergo gender reassignment surgery, you can use our letter to approve their absence.

Gender reassignment

Gender reassignment is the process of permanently transitioning from the gender assigned at birth to the person’s correct gender identity by changing physiological or other attributes of sex, but it doesn’t necessarily need to involve any medical intervention or surgical procedures. It may, for example, simply involve permanently dressing differently, using a different name and pronoun and changing official documentation. Gender reassignment is one of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.

Medical appointments

When it comes to medical appointments in connection with the gender reassignment process, for example, for psychological support, hormone therapy or voice therapy, these should be treated no less favourably than any other medical appointments and this is reflected in our Leaves of Absence Policy.

Surgery

Some trans people will, however, wish to go further and undergo surgery to permanently alter body parts associated with their biological sex, and this may involve more than one surgical procedure. Our Leaves of Absence Policy says that you’ll grant leave to undergo gender reassignment surgery and our Transgender Equality Policy says that this absence won’t then be counted for the purposes of absence monitoring. You can use our Time Off for Gender Reassignment Surgery Letter to confirm that the employee’s request for time off is authorised. You can make this subject to their producing proof of the appointment and/or a statement from a medical practitioner that the process of gender reassignment has been approved and confirming the time off required after surgery.

Pay for time off

Our letter then gives two alternative options for pay during the employee’s absence: (1) they’ll be paid at their normal pay rate - check if you’ve contractually committed to this, or you can exercise your discretion to pay full pay; or (2) they’ll receive sick pay in accordance with your sick pay provisions, provided they comply with your sickness absence reporting procedure and evidence requirements - unlike a lot of cosmetic or elective surgical procedures, gender reassignment isn’t a lifestyle choice, and the Equality Act says that you must not treat the employee’s absence from work because of the gender reassignment process less favourably than you would have done had they been absent because of sickness or injury, so do ensure that you treat their surgery at least in the same way as you would a medically necessary surgical procedure. Our letter also reminds the employee that they can always use their paid annual leave entitlement to take time off - they might wish to do this for at least some of their absence if you don’t pay full sick pay during sickness absence.