Can a employer refuse you religous days off??

bindiboo

Hi there, just a general question. My sister in law has requested a day off this year for Diwali ( in November).

Now she as asked for this as a day off and not a holiday and will work any other day to make up for in that week.

She has been told that she can have it as a fixed day off this year but she may not get it off next year.

Now there are several teams that work in our place of employment and each team have separate criteria regarding how many persons can be off in any same week.

But if she was to book it off next year, she is not guaranteed to have the holiday honoured as she is having this religious day off this year. Now every year Diwali falls on a different date so its not as if she is having the same date off each year.

We are a bit confused with what we have been told and just wanted to know if anyone knew a bit more about employment rights.

If this is correct then colleagues of other faiths should not be allowed the same dates off for their religious occasions.

anyone help?

BackOnTrack

From: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ResolvingWorkplaceDisputes/DiscriminationAtWork/DG_10026449

Religious holidays

Your employer needs to consider carefully whether they are inadvertently discriminating indirectly. For example, if team meetings always take place on a Friday afternoon this may discriminate against Jewish and Muslim staff for whom Friday afternoon has a particular religious significance, although not everyone follows their faith in the same way.
If you want time off for religious holidays, ask well in advance. Your employer should consider your request sympathetically but they can refuse if it will affect the business.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

AFAIK they dont have to give you the day off - they can let you take as holiday though.. I know i always let me staff go for Diwali and such like but it has to come from their Holiday entitlement

Strider590

I want a random day off too....

Does anyone know a religion that has 365 holidays a year? im in the market for a new faith

dorsetlady

I'm sure that the employer can refuse you a religious day off. I work in a hospital and many people, like myself, have to work Christmas day like it or not!

tizerbelle

There is no statutory entitlement to time off work (paid or unpaid) for religious observances.

The employer has to ensure that they do not directly/indirectly discriminate against one religious belief over another (or for many over no religious belief). If they were to automatically allow your sister and others with the same belief time off work for Diwali but did not allow the same courtesy to say the Jewish for Yom Kippur - that would be discrimination. A blanket policy that no time off work (excluding holiday requests here) for religious beliefs works in the employers favour as no one is being discriminated against, directly or indirectly.

As long as all employees requests for holiday (rather than time off work) are treated fairly and consistently and according to the needs of the business, then the employer is quite within their right to say your sister needs to make a request for holiday.

starrystarry

Of course the employer can refuse the day off. Why should your SIL, or anyone else for that matter, get priority over anybody else who wants that day off? The reason for wanting the day off is irrelevant.

FBaby

Could it be that they want to be fair to other employees with the same faith who might request the same day off? They might say no to those requesting later in the year saying that they have already received requests and they can't have more people off on that day, however, they would have priority the year after, hence the possibility of turning the request down for those who had the day off the previous year.

[Deleted User]

When I book time off for religious holidays, i don't tell my employer what it is for. It's not up to them to know..

They can refuse the day off if they want (but why would they if you book it in advance?) but that's their prerogative.

It's usually one of the first things I do in the year.. book time off for the 'important' days of the year (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, my birthday, wife's birthday)