Holiday Entitlement

[Rich_W]

While ago, several of the longer serving members of staff where I work unexpectedly got increased holiday entitlement as a perk. (including myself) Came straight from the top man of the company.

Great. But the slight problem is that it's very hard to get our line manager to actually authorise it. Reason in general is that of the 8 of us in our department we can only ever have 2 off at the same time.

I can understand "needs of the business" And I could understand if we were going to him with short lead times. But sometimes this is 2-3 months in advance, and the needs of our business and clients is not set that far in advance. Maybe a month at a push. So it's being used as an excuse. Oh and the system is such that if you don't use up your allowance you lose them and don't get paid in lieu for them.

It's got to a point now where people will not ask for holiday, then phone in sick for the days they want. Then come back and retrospectively get it changed to "holiday" so they get paid for it. Not something I'm really prepared to do. I'd rather it was just managed properly rather than needing to be underhand about it.

Is there any legal guidance regarding this or is it always down to discretion of your employer?

[davepoth]

https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/enti...

The way that is written suggests that provided you provide sufficient notice, and assuming there's nothing specific in your contract, the leave is approved unless it's rejected. I'm sure a lawyer will turn up presently to say completely the opposite though.

Edited by davepoth on Friday 3rd April 22:42

[Rich_W]

davepoth said:

https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/enti...

The way that is written suggests that provided you provide sufficient notice, and assuming there's nothing specific in your contract, the leave is approved unless it's rejected. I'm sure a lawyer will turn up presently to say completely the opposite though.

Edited by davepoth on Friday 3rd April 22:42

Cheers for the link.

I can say now with total authority the "at busy times" line will be used. Presumably because every work day from Jan to Dec is busy if you want to be pedantic. I'm lucky enough to work for a company that is doing pretty well.

[davepoth]

Rich_W said:

davepoth said:

https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/enti...

The way that is written suggests that provided you provide sufficient notice, and assuming there's nothing specific in your contract, the leave is approved unless it's rejected. I'm sure a lawyer will turn up presently to say completely the opposite though.

Edited by davepoth on Friday 3rd April 22:42

Cheers for the link.

I can say now with total authority the "at busy times" line will be used. Presumably because every work day from Jan to Dec is busy if you want to be pedantic. I'm lucky enough to work for a company that is doing pretty well.

If nobody can take holiday, you've got effectively a whole other person's job to do in the department (5.6 times 8 is only a week short of a full working year), so perhaps it's a headcount issue?

[Mr E]

Regarding 'use it or lose it', if you've tried to use it and been denied - everywhere I've worked has allowed the holiday to roll over.