Introducing career breaks - sabbatical leave schemes checklist

1.  Is the career break paid or unpaid? If paid, will this be at normal pay or at a reduced rate, for all or part of the absence?   

2.  If unpaid, will the career break count as continuous service, preserving the employee`s right to a redundancy payment and protection from unfair dismissal? For continuous service to be broken for statutory purposes, the career break should be treated as a resignation and the policy carefully worded to ensure there is no right to return at the end of the career break.  

3.  Who will be eligible? Most companies require staff to have been employed for a minimum period of 2 years or more.