Holidays?

cord123

Hi all,

I need a bit of advise..... a few months ago my husband was advised that his holiday would be frozen from April to October due to the Olympics (he is in the emergency services) however, now they have changed this to all year.

All holiday he has applied for has to be reapplied with exceptions of extreme circumstances ie. your own wedding etc or if you have ALREADY booked your holiday.

The problem we have is my sister is getting married next nov, so he had booked off october weekend while I go on the hen do to look after our son, obv booked my sisters wedding off, he is an usher in dec so has also booked this off.

What I wanted to know is, can they do this? There is uproar about it as he isnt even based in london! If he has a lot of holiday left can they make him take say a whole month off to get rid of it or do they have to allow him to carry it over or pay it in a lump sum?
He obv doesnt want to sit at home for a whole month while I am at work so would rather just carry it over or get it paid.

The union are on to it but are getting no answers and he is worried that he is going to miss all these weddings!

getmore4less

They can decide when holidays will be taken but they should give statutory holidays within the holiday year.

Sounds like the holidays related to the wedding are "booked" holidays in that the dates are fixed.


expect emergency services have(or will have if they can't get their way) excemptions from the rules.

SarEl

Yes they can do this. The union is his best hope of getting any leeway arranged. Employers can dictate when holidays can be taken, but they must allow for the to actually be taken - they are not allowed to pay for /carry over the statutory element although they can vary this for additional leave (which he probably does have). Whilst I can see that this is difficult for you both, I have some confidence that whilst the general policy is unlikley to change significantly the union should be able to mediate it. But equally I can understand the employers position in needing to manage holidays more carefully in this particular year. The Olympics are not just happening in London - the Chinese team, for example, will be based in and training in Leeds! The Olympics therefore make a number of places the potential target of terrorist attacks for a significant amount of time and not just London or just during the actual event - and given the number of countries competing you can just about pick your terrorist threat, since half the countries there (at least) will have internal or external enemies somewhere! I am afraid that for an event of this magnitude it is unrealistic to think it will not have a significant impact on emergency services

magenta22

I can understand them saying that for people in that area of work during and leading up to the Olympics but for the whole year is a bit extreme. People need to have a break especially if they are in that area of work.

SarEl

magenta22 wrote: »

I can understand them saying that for people in that area of work during and leading up to the Olympics but for the whole year is a bit extreme. People need to have a break especially if they are in that area of work.

To be fair - there is no indication that they are refusing people their legally entitled (or even contractually entitled) leave. As I read the post the employer is suspending the way that leave is booked at will currently, and planning leave to distribute it in such a way as to maintain full staff cover throughout the period. This has certainly been what has happened in other emergency services in my area - the employer is, as far as they can, telling people when they can take leave - not refusing them leave altogether.

maninthestreet

The Olympics are held between the dates of 27 July to 12 August 2012, and the Paralympics between 29 August and 9 September 2012.
Why is there a need to restrict leave for emergency crews not based in London for the whole year??

cord123

Basically they have put a hold on leave throughout the WHOLE year and if you want time off it is a very lengthy process ie. if he needed a day off for a child school assembly with say 3 weeks notice this would be fine (obv depending on cover etc) but now it can take up to a month to authorise. Someone above my husband complaint and was told that the school authroities had been consulted and that schools would be fine with kids being taken out of school etc.
I just cant understand how thw london emergency services do not have these huge restrictions but our area does it is crazy!

With regards to the weddings, you are only guaranteed if it is YOUR wedding. So even though he is giving a years notice he isnt guaranteed the time off!

I just feel that if this was any other organisation there would be uproar but emergency services get it out on the all the time and just have to suck it up cause there is nothing else they can do.

cord123

sorry, didnt really make sense above! Basically officers complained at not being able to go on holiday as they cant take kids away in the half terms ( they understand that the summer holidays was a no go due to the olypmics!) but the may and oct etc should be fine surely!?

SarEl

So basically - you can still book holidays but it will take longer to authorise, they may refuse if they don't have cover, and there will be certain periods of the year where it is not allowed at all? Which is the position that every employee is in in law. It may take up to a month to authorise - but what is wrong with asking now whether you can book certain times and then at least you will know what the answer is in a moths time. That still leaves you time to book holidays for when you have had them authorised. At least until the union can clarify the situation and negotiate any possible changes.

cord123

Not exactly.

Yes it takes longer, which means that he will more than likely miss the kids assemblies because of the lack of notice we are given on when they are, but that isnt really where my big bugbear lies.
They can refuse regardless of cover, that is what I dont understand. He is putting in for the weddings next year but even if they are authorised already, he can be told 2 weeks before he cant go! Their line is as long as it doesnt incurr us a charge they can do it, but obv someone will lose money by paying for a place at the wedding then him not bweing able to go etc. Plus, I dont see why the holiday is restricted in the first place!

I just cant understand how when London are going to be more affected, their holiday isnt being restricted like this.

I just dont want to be in a situation where they say to him have the whole of March 2013 off or something cause personally, i think that is really unfair when he has a young family and wants to spend time with them, sitting at home all day on his own is such a waste!

getmore4less

What parameters are they using to define prebooked

The wedding should count as a pre booked holiday thta fact that is a weding should be no different to a weekend booze up in Ibiza