Can employers contact you whilst you are on holiday?

debsley_pig

Hi

This was the most appropriate section I could find to post this in and I know it's not moneysaving, but you all give such great advice I didn't know where else to go!!

Does anyone know if there is a law against your employer phoning you at home whilst you are taking annual leave? I took two days holiday last week and my employer phoned me about work related matters on both days. I was mightily annoyed and even stopped answering my phone after the second phone call in case he phoned again. I can't find anything on the web about it and my Personnel officer has been of no help on telling me what my rights are.

I am particularly concerned as I will be commencing my maternity leave in 3 weeks time and I don't want to live with the possibility that he may phone me during that time. I want to chat to him and get this sorted, but I would appreciate knowing what the law is on this. There must be a law against it surely??

Thanks in advance.

Woby_Tide

I think that as they are still paying you for the holiday you take and you are contracted to them, unless there is anything written in the contract to specifically exclude it they can probably call you if they wish. You answering and speaking to them is a personal choice and they can't force that I guess.

Ivrytwr3

Why not speak to your boss before taking your maternity. If they start getting all high and mighty about it, just tell them for every day they call you you will put in a cancellation for 1 days holiday.

No idea whether this is legal or not, but you are on holiday and therfore should not be getting bothered by work matters.

nearlyrich

I just switch off my work mobile and hey presto no-one calls me, with a suitable message they don't even leave a voicemail. However if they phone at home it's a different problem, would caller ID and an answering machine help?

hamaradam

Definitely get a caller display, the sooner the better, ntl charge a very small monthly amount to supply the service (don't know about bt though) and you first buy the device (caller display) - cheap enough from argos - either a phone with one built-in or a separate device which plugs to your phone - like this, you can see who's calling and if it's them don't pick up, and don't tell them you have one either, and if you were questioned at a later date as to why you had not picked up your phone then you were out. I would be fuming and have had similar situations....a caller display is invaluable, and you can see who's calling and ignore it, an answerphone is ok but then at some point they will expect a reply, so its still hassle. And another thing i usually find if the caller display says 'caller witheld' then its invariably someone you don't want to speak to....or 'number unavailable' is from a works switchboard or the bank or someone like that..good luck and enjoy any future holidays!

tomstickland

What sort of relationship do you have with your employer? If it's a sensible one then they'd only call you if they needed something urgently and you'd not be bothered by it. The way you describe it, it's a bit "us and them".

Where I work then I'd not have a problem with someone calling me at any time of the day and similarly I'd think someone was a bit miserable if they got uppity about me calling them when they were away. All depends on your working environment, give and take etc.

You should speak to them and come to an agreement anyway.

lisyloo

I believe it is illegal to call you at home - although most employers don't want unreasonable employees so if it's an emergency then I would let it go.

How much do you need or want the job.
I think they are being unreasonable but you have to balance that against not getting promoted or worse losing your job.

I'm not saying you should put up with whatever they do but think about it carefully before you go in there all guns blazing.

Could you get a partner to screen calls.
i.e. "Can I ask who's calling"
"Oh sorry Mr boss, she's in the shower".

debsley_pig

Thanks for all the replies so far. Sounds like I'm not the only one whose experienced this problem!

I will also give CAB a ring this afternoon to see if I get any joy from them on knowing what the law says about it.

I am also planning to get caller display soon as well.

I do generally have a good relationship with my boss, but both things he contacted me about could have waited until I got back on the Monday. I was only away for two days for goodness sake. The problem is that I am in a management position and he tends to rely very heavily on me and goes into a blind panic when a so called problem comes up and just doesn't think things through.

Sorry, tomstickland, but I don't agree with you. I give so much of myself when I am at work and work overtime and take on extra work when there is no one else to do it. I do draw the line at being contacted at home whilst on my hols as this is my time and the last thing I want to be reminded of is my work. I wouldn't dream of contacting one of my staff when they were away as I respect their privacy and there is never a problem that comes up that cannot be solved in another way.

Anyway, I will let you know if I have any joy from the CAB. Thanks.

exil

Requires a bit of give and take I think. There are some jobs - police, doctor, boss of big company, even (dare I say it) Prime Minister - where you are always on duty in theory, and leave can be cancelled at any time.

Most jobs don't come into this category. However occasionally there will be a crisis which can't be solved by the people in the office. In that case, in order to, say, ensure a payment goes in on time and avoids huge bank charges, then the employer is IMO entitled to ask for your assistance.

Imagine there is a flu epidemic at the office. Some urgent action needs to be taken. If it isn't, the company goes bust and you all lose your jobs. Now - do you help or don't you?

If it's a personal problem with this particular manager, then it should be dealt with as such.

shelly

debsley_pig wrote:

I am also planning to get caller display soon as well.

If you have a phone with a display on it you can get caller display free from BT. I found the info somewhere on this site. Or I think its on BT site under home privacy.

tomstickland

Sorry, tomstickland, but I don't agree with you. I give so much of myself when I am at work and work overtime and take on extra work when there is no one else to do it. I do draw the line at being contacted at home whilst on my hols as this is my time and the last thing I want to be reminded of is my work. I wouldn't dream of contacting one of my staff when they were away as I respect their privacy and there is never a problem that comes up that cannot be solved in another way.

OK, I still think that the best solution is to:
communicate your thoughts
explain why it bothers you
negotiate a solution

This would be preferable to going to call ID, call blocking, reading the law, calling the police or whatever other loony ideas are going to be suggested.

Your boss might just assume that since you're so keen then you don't mind being called when you're at home.

The people I work with, if they found someone who didn't like being called at home, they'd probably start calling for fun with silly questions like "have you seen my biro recently?".