Employer cancelling your holiday leave

MessyMare

My similar story is that I booked leave; it was signed off as authorised. The purpose of this leave was to have some serious problems with my car fixed. It gets to less than a week before I'm due to take said leave, and I'm flicked through the annual leave diary only to find out that it's been crossed out. Nobody told me! When I asked boss about it, she said that it was because I couldn't have leave in my first 12 weeks (despite said leave being booked for more than 14 weeks after I started).

In that case, I did understand one of the reasons it was cancelled- there was training on one of the days, which had been booked in after I booked my leave. However, the bit that was unfair was nobody bothering to tell me that it had been cancelled!

SarEl

Bev. wrote: »

Sorry, it's difficult without more information isn't it. lol. My fault...

I work in the building trade. I serve customers. I drive delivery vehicles (other people can do this - company are always calling on other people to cover various holidays), i only do this occasionally. My main position is in the yard department where i attend to customers & our own vehicles as well as deliveries.

If i was to have a holiday, that would leave the department a man down, obviously. However at times, the company has operated with that quantity of staff (in other words, there's 4 of us. Me going would leave 3, yet we've operated on 3 people before).

If i didn't turn in, what would happen? People would have to "pull their finger out" so to speak - like we do (including myself) at any moment someone else is off sick / on holiday. The job would still get done. It would perhaps take a little longer, but it'd still get done. My co-workers may finish a little later (15, 30 minutes perhaps) - but this is no different to what we all have to do when someone else is sick / on holiday.

In which case the fate of the world and my delivery of bricks can probably be safe if a little late. So I would say a tribunal wouldn't agree a dismissal was fair - but as I keep telling people, the trick is not to be in a tribunal because they can be perverse.

Bev._2

ColleenPamela wrote: »

My similar story is that I booked leave; it was signed off as authorised. The purpose of this leave was to have some serious problems with my car fixed. It gets to less than a week before I'm due to take said leave, and I'm flicked through the annual leave diary only to find out that it's been crossed out. Nobody told me! When I asked boss about it, she said that it was because I couldn't have leave in my first 12 weeks (despite said leave being booked for more than 14 weeks after I started).

In that case, I did understand one of the reasons it was cancelled- there was training on one of the days, which had been booked in after I booked my leave. However, the bit that was unfair was nobody bothering to tell me that it had been cancelled!

Was you not tempted to just not say anything as you had never been told? I'm not saying this would've been right, but the last word you had was a positive one.

SarEl wrote: »

but as I keep telling people, the trick is not to be in a tribunal because they can be perverse.

Very true! & thanks.

Savvy_Sue

Bev. wrote: »

Sorry, it's difficult without more information isn't it. lol. My fault...

I work in the building trade. I serve customers. I drive delivery vehicles (other people can do this - company are always calling on other people to cover various holidays), i only do this occasionally. My main position is in the yard department where i attend to customers & our own vehicles as well as deliveries.

If i was to have a holiday, that would leave the department a man down, obviously. However at times, the company has operated with that quantity of staff (in other words, there's 4 of us. Me going would leave 3, yet we've operated on 3 people before).

If i didn't turn in, what would happen? People would have to "pull their finger out" so to speak - like we do (including myself) at any moment someone else is off sick / on holiday. The job would still get done. It would perhaps take a little longer, but it'd still get done. My co-workers may finish a little later (15, 30 minutes perhaps) - but this is no different to what we all have to do when someone else is sick / on holiday.

So the yard is normally 4 people, but operates OK with 3 people. Bev books a holiday, so it will be down to 3 in a month's time. Then Fred gets knocked down in the yard because he didn't have the wit to move out of the way of a moving car, breaks his leg and is signed off for the period covering Bev's holiday - the yard is now down to 2 for that period. And it's the flu season ... You can understand why the boss might WANT to cancel Bev's booked leave, can't you?

C_Mababejive

OK how about this...hypothetically...you try to book annual leave. You might book it 6 months in advance. The employer says,who have you arranged to cover for you? You say...well actually no one. Its my legal right to take my annual leave and i have given sufficient notice. It isnt my job to find cover. Employer says..well if you dont find cover we cant authorise your hols. So if this goes on for a year,you dont get any holidays unless you just take them by force and stand the consequences if any.

getmore4less

Bev. wrote: »

Sorry, it's difficult without more information isn't it. lol. My fault...

I work in the building trade. I serve customers. I drive delivery vehicles (other people can do this - company are always calling on other people to cover various holidays), i only do this occasionally. My main position is in the yard department where i attend to customers & our own vehicles as well as deliveries.

If i was to have a holiday, that would leave the department a man down, obviously. However at times, the company has operated with that quantity of staff (in other words, there's 4 of us. Me going would leave 3, yet we've operated on 3 people before).

If i didn't turn in, what would happen? People would have to "pull their finger out" so to speak - like we do (including myself) at any moment someone else is off sick / on holiday. The job would still get done. It would perhaps take a little longer, but it'd still get done. My co-workers may finish a little later (15, 30 minutes perhaps) - but this is no different to what we all have to do when someone else is sick / on holiday.

With statutory minimum after BH being 4 weeks that's 16 weeks(30%) of the year they opperate with 3 people unless there are block closures.

SarEl

C_Mababejive wrote: »

It isnt my job to find cover. Employer says..well if you dont find cover we cant authorise your hols.
.

Hypothetically speaking - if the employer says that it is your job to find cover, then it actually is your job.

ceridwen

ColleenPamela wrote: »

My similar story is that I booked leave; it was signed off as authorised. The purpose of this leave was to have some serious problems with my car fixed. It gets to less than a week before I'm due to take said leave, and I'm flicked through the annual leave diary only to find out that it's been crossed out. Nobody told me! When I asked boss about it, she said that it was because I couldn't have leave in my first 12 weeks (despite said leave being booked for more than 14 weeks after I started).

In that case, I did understand one of the reasons it was cancelled- there was training on one of the days, which had been booked in after I booked my leave. However, the bit that was unfair was nobody bothering to tell me that it had been cancelled!

Hindsight is a wonderful thing - but, in those circumstances, I would personally have "forgotten" about the fact that I had flicked through that annual leave diary. If they complained about the fact that I had gone on that pre-booked leave - I would respond with sheer puzzlement of "How was I supposed to know my leave had been cancelled by the firm? No-one told me...". I doubt they would have had a leg to stand on - as they wouldnt have been able to produce written proof (or even the memory of a conversation with you in which they mentioned this) to confirm that they had told you.

moremore

A friend of mine applied for holiday giving more than the required time for the leave. Employer just stopped the leave payments so was very short in salary that month, employer did not say that the booked holiday could not be taken but they deducted that amount from salary.

HR said that everything is wiped off their system so it cannot be verified what happened:o

agrinnall

SarEl wrote: »

Hypothetically speaking - if the employer says that it is your job to find cover, then it actually is your job.

SarEl, there's no way I'd want to disagree with you, but can you explain why it's the employees job to find a replacement? The employer knows that they have to allow holidays to be taken so surely it's their responsibility to ensure there are enough people to run their business.