Resignation and holidays that have already been booked issue

quidmaster

Apologies if this has been posted before.

I have a small dilemma.

I have already booked holiday dates over the Christmas period with my employer. In the meantime I have been offered a job elsewhere and I have decided to hand in my resignation notice soon. Upon reading my employer's guidance for resignation it states that it is up to the discretion of the manager on whether holidays can be taken by employees during their notice period. It also states that holiday leave can be canceled.

My concern is if they decide to cancel my holidays over the Christmad period I will be financially out of pocket as I have already booked my holiday. In this scenario, do I have the right of recourse to obtain compensation from my employer for cancelling my holiday? I had booked this holiday months in advance and at that point in time I had no intention of moving jobs.

Please help.

Thanks.

Hammyman

I'd just go on the holiday. You've already booked it and I doubt they'd enforce a cancellation.

serious_saver

Check your contract. Does your leave year run from by the calendar year or financial year?

If it is the calendar year, and this is leave has been acrued between last Jan and now, then you will have a good chance of keeping it.

If your leave is based on the financial year then you should check to see if any of the leave you have requested would be accrued for the period from next Jan to March. If this is the case then your employer would have a reasonable claim for cancelling part of the leave or asking for the equivalent pay to be returned.

Good luck on the new job!

Uncertain

serious_saver wrote: »

Check your contract. Does your leave year run from by the calendar year or financial year?

If it is the calendar year, and this is leave has been acrued between last Jan and now, then you will have a good chance of keeping it.

If your leave is based on the financial year then you should check to see if any of the leave you have requested would be accrued for the period from next Jan to March. If this is the case then your employer would have a reasonable claim for cancelling part of the leave or asking for the equivalent pay to be returned.

I fail to see what that has got to do with it.

If the OP was not leaving and his holiday year ended 31 Dec then they would have to let him take his statutory leave before then.

However, once he has put his notice in the employer has the option of not letting him take the holiday but paying him for it after he leaves.

The question of compensation for lost deposits etc if an employer cancels booked holiday is a complex grey area and needs specialist advice.

Obviously just taking it regardless is one practical option but there are issues here too.

This is all hypothetical at the moment in any case.....

serious_saver

Uncertain wrote: »

I fail to see what that has got to do with it.
If the OP was not leaving and his holiday year ended 31 Dec then they would have to let him take his statutory leave before then.

However, once he has put his notice in the employer has the option of not letting him take the holiday but paying him for it after he leaves.

The question of compensation for lost deposits etc if an employer cancels booked holiday is a complex grey area and needs specialist advice.

Obviously just taking it regardless is one practical option but there are issues here too.

This is all hypothetical at the moment in any case.....

The issue is that leave is accrued over a year. If the employee doesn't work for a full year then they are not entitled to a full years statutory leave.

If the leave year runs with the financial year then the OP will only be entitled to leave pro rated for 9 months. Of course this depends on the leave year, hence why I suggested the OP checks the details. Most people (especially if they are not thinking about changing jobs) aren't too concerned about when in the year they take their leave as they, understandably, expect that they will satisfy enough days to cover that leave.

I have worked for companies who have cancelled leave days, that have not been accrued, upon receipt of a resignation.

OP the best thing you can do is discuss it with your HR or line manager. If there are issues with covering your holiday dates and you entitlement then (as you've already suggested) it's up to the discretion of the management. Go into any conversation with a positive attitude and appeal to their good nature.

Uncertain

serious_saver wrote: »

The issue is that leave is accrued over a year. If the employee doesn't work for a full year then they are not entitled to a full years statutory leave.

OK, I take your point that it is possible that some or all of the leave the OP has booked has not actually been accrued yet.

I was assuming (perhaps wrongly) that it had been accrued. I was therefore coming at this from the point that the only time an employer can opt to pay you for statutory holiday, rather than let you take it, is when you leave the company.

MX5huggy

If you have a firm unconditional offer from the new job the ball is really in your court, my resignation letters always have stated that I will be taking x and y days, what can they do? Worst case is they ask you to work a couple of extra days on the end or dock your pay by he required amount.

Much more likely is they ask you to leave on the spot and pay you to say away.