Employment Holiday help :(

omnomnom

omnomnom

omnomnom

Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2012
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19,175
Hello !

So, basically in my work we have 23 days holiday entitlement. Of this they take 3 days for when the company shuts down over the christmas period, this is holiday we are simply not allowed to use until this point.

I dont perticularlyhave a problem with this as the extended break over christmas is always welcome.

However, they have decided they need cover in my department over these three days. This would mean putting names into a hat and pulling them out at random. Something I aswell as others are not happy about for various reasons but personally I am annoyed as im planning on going away to London.

We get our days back if we work.



Where do we stand on a legal stand point with this ? They have had this booked as annual leave for 10 months and now want to change it so we have to work on the days we have booked ??

Any help appreciated :)
 
You are completely at the mercy of the company in terms of them telling you when you can and cannot take annual leave as far as I'm aware.
 
I don't think there is anything untoward from a legal standpoint, so you will just have to suck it up. You could always call in sick? ;)
 
This isnt the first time no.

The way we see it is that these have been booked in now since essentially the first of Jan 2012.....surely if its booked in as holiday we have some right to these ???
 
You can put your situation to management and they may listen, but there isn't anything you can do legally.

Did you take out holiday insurance?
 
What does your contract say?

We have got a similar issue at work where my boss has got a lot of work on and has decided not to sign my colleagues holiday sheet, I and my other colleagues had put our holiday in earlier in the year, luckily our contract says 5 days for Christmas is taken from out annual holiday entitlement.
 
PapaLazaru said:
Cancel it.
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I doubt they could do that.

They tell you that 3 days from your 23 allotted days HAVE to be reserved for xxx days at xmas.
Ok, so you decide to go away for those 3 days.
Then months laters they say "aah...we need cover for those days and we're going to draw lots"

It would be a pretty crappy company to work for if you tell them you've booked to go away and they say "cancel it" or even include you in the hat.
 
They should at least have a rota system so if you have to work this year, you're guaranteed to get the next Christmas off and it is someone else's turn.
 
the employer can cancel a approved holiday, as long as they give twice as much notice as the length of the holiday booked,

I think that includes days off around the holiday, so xmas day, boxing day and the weekends, so they would need to give you over 2 weeks notice...
 
Well, it's over 2 weeks until Christmas.... so they can pretty much do what they want.
Whether they should or not is another issue. I agree, must be a pretty crappy company to make you (potentially) cancel any pre-booked holiday arrangements you have made.

When did they decide they needed cover? What would cover entail? Just being available on call via telephone, or being in the office over Christmas?

It's poor management, whatever.
 
Personally don't see a problem with this as the company do do what the like with employees holiday entitlement, also doing the 'names out of a hat' is the fairest way of doing it.

Beerbaron said:
I would just call in sick. You don't need a doctors note for 3 days.
Click to expand...

You could do this but it would be highly suspicious.
 
It's fairly short notice to change annual leave policies - if you are in a union get them involved, I hate unions but they do tend to lead to a compromise of some kind.

This did happen to me once years ago, company agreed to cover any cancellation fees and I was paid double time as a "thank you" from them for doing it.

Now is not the time to change annual leave policy without consulting employees though, this sounds like a manager has screwed up and is trying to cover his/her back.
 
Hmm I think the way i am seeing it is that I have had these days booked for 10 months now and for them to turn around and take it back is pretty crappy.

Especially as it turns out that people with kids are likely being excluded from this pot.

Ill take it up with my manager and see what they say.

Seems harsh to me.

Edit

PS Thanks for everyones help.

:)
 
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