Can my entire years annual leave be taken from me?

hkc_2

I am currently on maternity leave. I had originally planned to use up my annual leave before starting maternity leave however as my baby was born prematurely I had to start my leave early in July before I was able to take annual leave.
I have now been told by my manager that as I am due to return after the end of the financial year I can only carry over 5 days leave meaning I loose 20 days (120 hours) leave .
I have been told previously that extra days can be carried over in special circumstances as long as they are signed off by the manager and immediately after the birth of my baby was told by my manager that my annual leave would simply be added to the end of my maternity.
Do I have any rights if my manager is now going back on her word?
Can annual leave be taken off you simply because you are on maternity leave and unable to take it especially when you have made plans to take it.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

getmore4less

Just tell him employment law is you carry over the lot.

hkc_2

Can you tell me which part of Employement law you are refering to as Ive been struggling to find any current information to back up my case. HR at work simply tell me that its up to my managers descretion and any annual leave policies Ive read say the same thing.

Kate78

Unfortunately it's a case of use it or lose it with annual leave (our company will let you roll over 5 days max with approval of manager).

Your company's HR should have told you this before you went on mat leave. :mad:

I don't think there is any law that says you can carry over leave from one year to another, sorry.

Uncertain

Kate78 wrote: »

I don't think there is any law that says you can carry over leave from one year to another, sorry.

There is if you are unable to take it due to illness. I don't know if this applies to maternity.

snoopytweety

This might help,

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/03/31/48820/how-to-deal-with-the-holiday-entitlement-of-an-employee-taking-maternity.html

philbostavros

Hi hkc

There is a paragraph on the Gov website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Pregnancyandmaternityrights/DG_175088



Holiday entitlement

You build up all your entitlements to paid holiday through all of your Statutory Maternity Leave. This is even if your employment contract says you are entitled to more than the statutory minimum.
You can add holiday to the beginning or end of your Statutory Maternity Leave. You may not be able to carry over untaken holiday entitlement if your Statutory Maternity Leave goes over two holiday years. It is often best to take this at the beginning of your Statutory Maternity Leave.


I would take this up with your HR, as your circumstances were unforseen and ask for some flexibility (worth a try). Failling that, if you are in a union, you could ask them to get involved.

Good luck.

getmore4less

I think you need to look at the gomez case

there is a summary in this link
http://www.thompsons.law.co.uk/ltext/dload/lelr0102.pdf

http://www.lge.gov.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=126098#contents-4

Have a search for more recent articles

Found one
http://www.cipd.co.uk/EmploymentLaw/FAQ/_MPALeavePay/_FAQ/QA_35.htm
the key being
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has held that a woman must be able to take at least her statutory minimum holiday entitlement under the Working Time Directive during a period other than her maternity leave. (See Merino-Gomez v Continental Industries del Caucho [2004] IRLR 407, ECJ and Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging v Staat Der Nederlanden [2006] IRLR 561, ECJ)

So try giving that to HR to investigate.

Hammyman

getmore4less wrote: »

Just tell him employment law is you carry over the lot.

Except that there is no entitlement to carry over holidays in employment law. Use em or lose em.

Uncertain

Hammyman wrote: »

Except that there is no entitlement to carry over holidays in employment law. Use em or lose em.

Wild generalisation!

It is not as simple as that - suggest your read the whole thread!

ajaney

I am in the exact same position! I was going to use 4 weeks annual leave then start maternity leave 1 week before baby was due. I duly left work on annual leave but baby arrived 4 weeks early at the end of June instead of end of July..

I have lost the 3 weeks leave as I am only allowed a 5 day carry-over - I was going to carry over 5 bank holidays which had occured during my paid leave anyway, so I am 3 weeks down. If I had been going back at the beginning of April, I could have used the 3 weeks in March but I had decided to have the full year off & am sticking with that.

I work for local government so I am sure thay are dealing with this in the correct way.