Holiday entitlement

techno_saver

Hi.
Was wondering if anyone could help with a query.
I know an employer can refuse a holiday request should it not be convenient, but can they refuse holiday given three months notice before the end of leave year and forfeit an employees holiday.
Thanks.

Mudd14

If it is statutory holiday an employer must allow employees time off to meet the requirement. However employers can deny the request for leave. I would ask them why the request has been denied and ask when it is possible to take the leave before it is lost.

anamenottaken

techno_saver wrote: »

Hi.
Was wondering if anyone could help with a query.
I know an employer can refuse a holiday request should it not be convenient, but can they refuse holiday given three months notice before the end of leave year and forfeit an employees holiday.
Thanks.

Given 3 months notice, the employer can give an alternative time for holiday to be taken.

For statutory paid holiday it is important that the worker is not denied holiday in such a way that no holiday is taken. Therefore, if it were to appear that an employee would be missing out on holiday, the employer should insist that the employee is able to take holiday at a specific time provided they, as employer, have given sufficient notice of the time.

LondonDiva

When the holiday was refused, did you then book an alternative date or did you then not book another holiday, which meant that you may have to forfeit?

MuckyDucky

1. If your holiday request goes beyond the amount of days you're entitled to or if you've already used up your holiday days (according to your contract) prior to this request, then yes they can refuse.

2. If your holiday request is within your entitlement then no they can't refuse it altogether as it's law that you have to take leave. But they can refuse the particular dates if it clashes with several other people being off or if it's a case of (for example) your contract states you can't have the final week of any month off and that's what you're asking for... or you're not allowed more than 2 weeks off at a time and that's what you're asking for.

If it's number 2 and your request isn't breaking any terms in your contract, have they given a reason to why they've said no? If not you need to ask for clarification on the reason and ask them to give you the dates that are avaliable to be taken as leave.

techno_saver

Hi.
Thanks to you all for your helpful replies.
I work for a large company in a smallish shop.
The wage slip records the amount of remaining holiday entitlement, about 90 hours.
When I asked for holiday I was told that because other people had booked their holiday, there were no availible dates and although hard I would just have to forfeit the outstanding hours and remember it for next time.
This does seem a little unfair, I would have thought that three months was a decent amount of notice.

hstudent

I think they can refuse a holiday at 3 months notice as another employee may have requested the same week off 6 months in advance.

If they refuse a lot of holiday requests then it's not right if you can't take your full holiday allowance. I think most would give you a reason for rejection. However, if you've left a big chunk to the end of the year to take and can't get any times approved then you may face the situation where you have to carry your holidays forward or get extra pay.

desperado2

I think you will find they are within the letter of the law, if not the spirit..

An Employer can refuse time off if it is not convenient, and only has to credit you if it can be shown that there were no alternative suitable times.. they can easily dodge round this by saying you could have taken time off in "September" .. It is for you to take your holiday entitlement, not for them to make it, so as long as there were 20 days in the holiday year you "could" have booked, they are home scott free.

In practice, an employer should be fairly flexible and allow most requests assuming they dont coincide with peak trading times, or short staffing due to other holiday and training commitments.. so I would ask them to suggest when you could be permitted time off..

rupee99

"Your contract may set out other rules about when you can take your holiday. This is allowed so long as the rules don't effectively prevent you from taking holiday at all."

From

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10034711