Holiday Refusal Advice Needed Please
Holiday Refusal Advice Needed Please
Author
Discussion

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Need some guidance please.

Back in May i got a part job for a supermarket chain working 3 x 4 hour shifts each week. When I was ''interviewed' I was asked what holidays I had booked for the year & the dates were given to the person who interviewed me.

On my first day I was told that my holidays had been approved.

Fast forward to last week when I was talking to the store manager, who has only been at the store for 3 weeks, & the conversation got round to the holiday confirmation request I had completed the day before.

He told me, bluntly, that my request for time off had been refused due to other people already having booked their annual leave & because it was August he couldn't allow anyone else to have time off.

I told him that my holiday dates had been agreed with my team leader, who has since left the company, & he said that it was tough - my holiday dates had not been entered into the holiday planner so it was too bad & he refused to continue the discussion.

My holiday was booked & paid for way back in January, long before I started working for these clowns & had I been told when I started the job that I wouldnt be allowed the time off I probably would not have taken the job.

As far as I was/am concerned my holiday request had been granted so I was happy with that.

So my question is this? What do i do?

And before anyone says 'read the terms & conditions of your Contract of Employment' I can't.

Why?

Because after 3 months I am still waiting to be given a contract to sign, I have not been given a job offer, I have not been given anything at all in writing regarding the job & whilst I am getting paid I have not received a wage slip.

I have asked for a Contract every week since I started & always get the same answer 'it's being sorted out' & then nothing gets supplied.

If I go on holiday can i get sacked for breach of contract even though I have never signed one or am i possibly likely to get a warning as to my future conduct?

Or am I, as one bar room lawyer told me last night, able to dictate the terms of when I work due to their failure to supply me with a contract?

Am I classed as non contracted because no Contract has been supplied or signed?

I will be calling ACAS tomorrow to see what they say however I wondered if anyone on here has any HR experience therefore might have suggestions as to what to do.

My other half, & son, have already gone away as the holiday was booked to start yesterday however I haven't gone he as want to see what the store manager has to say tomorrow.


happychap

545 posts

177 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Go on holiday and sort it out on your return, the fact that circumstances and management have changed since you were offered the position is not your problem

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
That's what i am inclined to do tbh.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

234 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
I think because you've been employed for less than 12 months they can just bin you if they want to I'm afraid.

XG332

3,927 posts

217 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Go on holiday and worry about it when your back. Life is too short.

davepoth

29,395 posts

228 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
hornetrider said:
I think because you've been employed for less than 12 months they can just bin you if they want to I'm afraid.
Yup, that's the case.

happychap

545 posts

177 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
When origianally appointed your leave was agreed, the fact that this new manager wants to show who's boss is piss poor. Put a compaint in after you return from leave, that will add to the confussed situation that you find yourself in.

davepoth

29,395 posts

228 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Anything in writing about the first holiday request?

egor110

17,674 posts

232 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
happychap said:
When origianally appointed your leave was agreed, the fact that this new manager wants to show who's boss is piss poor. Put a compaint in after you return from leave, that will add to the confussed situation that you find yourself in.
As he has no contract, has never had a payslip couldn't that back fire and they just tell him he no longer has any shifts?

The market has more people wanting jobs than jobs, so firms know if you won't do it someone else will.

happychap

545 posts

177 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
egor110 said:
As he has no contract, has never had a payslip couldn't that back fire and they just tell him he no longer has any shifts?

The market has more people wanting jobs than jobs, so firms know if you won't do it someone else will.
OP applied for a job in good faith and has worked without any confirmation of of this for an amount of time. What would have happened if he'd had an accident at work, would he have been covered. Yes he runs the risk of his employment being ended, only the op can determine if that would be a good or bad thing.

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
davepoth said:
Anything in writing about the first holiday request?
Nothing given to me apart from verbal confirmation.mi don't know what, if anything is in my staff file at the shop (assuming I have one) because it's would be locked away in the office & us plebs are not allowed to venture into the office.

The holiday chart is also in the office so have no idea what is on that either.

I didn't have any reason to think that the dates hadn't been added to the chart - never crossed m mind to question it.

Also quite concerned at the lack of a contract - is it legal for them not to get me to sign a contract of employment? I have not had anything at all in writing regarding the job, the terms & conditions, the pay, etc etc which worries me somewhat.


Countdown

49,250 posts

225 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

If you take the holiday you're at the risk of losing your job.

If you don't take the holiday, you will lose any money you've paid for it.

It really depends on which you value more.

With regards to "legal" options you've got somewhere between slim and none. As you don't have any evidence to confirm that the holiday has already been booked and your manager has said he needs you in if you DO decide to be absent it will be unauthorised. And as you're in the first 12 months of our contract you can be binned.


Robb F

4,614 posts

200 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
You will regret not going on holiday more than you will getting fired from a part time job.

And don't forget the old adage, It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Reckoning on going away & dealing with the fallout when I get back. Don't want to disappoint my boy who is expecting me to join him on holiday.

12 hours a week stacking shelves or a holiday with my son.... Mmmm.

Holiday I think.

Dangerous Dan

624 posts

200 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Holiday indeed.

Just be aware, you may not have a job to come back to when you return. Sounds like the company is a bunch of tards.

R1 Indy

4,506 posts

212 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
You should have really got a signed confirmation first.

One possible compromise would be to see if you could get some colleagues to cover your shifts as overtime, and take it as unpaid leave yourself.

I can't see your manager refusing this, as He will still have the same number of people in the business, and it won't fk his wages budget as your taking it unpaid.


If you just go AWOL i think you risk a big chance of being binned.

fatboy69

Original Poster:

9,424 posts

216 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
I meant to add that I put up a notice in the staff room asking if anyone could/would cover my shifts. It got taken down within an hour of me leaving the store last Thursday.

Also asked those that were in - they said they would have to ask the boss if it was ok although they knew the answer beforehand - no!

I didn't get confirmation in writing as I didn't think it was necessary.

Guess I might be kind of fked. Don't want to get the sack however it's a matter of principal. I was told the holiday had been ok'd so no reason to suspect anything different.


Wacky Racer

41,252 posts

276 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Good luck anyhow.

Even if you keep your job when you get back, start looking for a new one straight away without telling them.

Look after number one.

happychap

545 posts

177 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
Work on the theory that it is likley you will not have a job to go back too. Put it down to experience for your next job.

Simbu

1,913 posts

203 months

Sunday 19th August 2012
quotequote all
OP - still tell them you're going; don't just not turn up for shifts. I'd put in writing to the manager all that you have in your favour and that you will be going on the holiday you've paid for and agreed with your team leader at the time.

One of two things will happen - manager will accept it and be pissed for a while, and find cover for your holiday.

Or, he'll find cover and try to sack you. Technically he can probably do this, since you've been there less than 12 months... but I'd be kicking off to an HR department over that big time. It's pretty unreasonable on his part, especially if you can find cover to take the shifts.

Not Tesco is it? IME they were inflexible bds over holiday.