Can I leave work early to watch England vs Croatia match tonight? Employment rights and sick day rules explained

THE World Cup is on and tonight's match has the potential to make history for England.

What do you do if you want to watch the game but you're stuck at work? Are you legally allowed to head out early? Here are your rights explained.

Can you leave work early to watch England?

Workers will want to leave their jobs early whenever England play in the World Cup so they can get to their venue of choice.

But unfortunately, unless you've already agreed with your employer beforehand, there is no legal obligation for them to allow you to leave work early to catch the match.

Only the self-employed or workers on flexible contracts — also known as flexi-time — can choose to leave work early without fear of repercussions.

Flexi-time workers can clock in and out when they want as long as they work a certain number of hours over a set period of time, most commonly a week.

For most other workers, only reasonable excuses like sudden sickness or a family emergency will convince your employer to let you go home early.

What if you say you are genuinely sick?

Contracted employees can go home early if they are too ill to work — and still be paid.

You are entitled to  if you have started work for an employer, are sick for four days straight and earn at least £113 a week.

You're  if you are self-employed, have had SSP for 28 weeks, serve in the armed forces or are in legal custody - to name a few exemptions.

If you meet the criteria, you can get £89.35 per week for up to 28 weeks but your employer may choose to pay you more.

If you haven’t been given a contract or it’s not in there, you should ask your employer or check your staff handbook or intranet.

Do employers try and get out of sick pay?

Unfortunately yes, and Citizens Advice warned some businesses are exploiting confusion around the issue to avoid paying employees.

It claims firms use tactics including cancelling shifts after staff have called in sick to appear as though they were not meant to be in that day.

Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice told Sun Online: "Sick pay is a basic right which many workers are entitled to.

"Although some employers make genuine mistakes... others are trying to confuse people about their rights so they can get away with not paying up."

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What if your employer refuses to pay up?

If your boss says that you aren't entitled to sick pay but you feel you are, ask them to fill in the government sick pay  explaining their reasons.