holidays not permitted

moose1982

pandora205 wrote: »

Lets hope it gets sorted out - I can't believe they will make him lose it all.

Chances are the supervisor did the correct thing and see if there is room for anyone off but the holiday book said no, the supervisor didn't know the next step to take, which at that level can't be blamed really. But a big company will have a policy in place for this, small companies will be totally different (almost make it up as they go along in my experience!).

When I was at Sainsburys, we were all cross trained, ie I could do fruit & veg, deli, food to go, warehouse, customer service, tills etc, so chances are that if they asked someone else if they want a bit of overtime, they'll get it covered.

Good luck!

bluenoseam

Once personell have cleared up how much he's earned he can then find out when he can take them by speaking to a manager, supervisors are often a bit like receptionists in the doctors surgery, a little bit of power and suddenly they go all crazy with it!

pandora205

Thanks for the replies. To clarify, he worked just one day per week (Saturday job when he was full time at college) until September. Since then he has worked 22 hours per week. He did take a couple of days in the summer when we went away. The 88 hours has been acrued since September, as he's done quite a lot of extra hours when they have been busy. He asked in November if he could have some time off in December and this was refused. What he should have done was book the rest off in Jan - Mar then but he didn't realise he needed to give such long notice (as the forms they use state 6 weeks before).

The staff in Morrisons don't seem to be cross trained. DS says that booking leave seems to be a problem for check out operators only as noone can cover for them (or so his fellow workers told him today).

richardvc

Quite clever really - they won't let him take the time off and I bet they won't offer to pay him either !!

SarEl

pandora205 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. To clarify, he worked just one day per week (Saturday job when he was full time at college) until September. Since then he has worked 22 hours per week. He did take a couple of days in the summer when we went away. The 88 hours has been acrued since September, as he's done quite a lot of extra hours when they have been busy. He asked in November if he could have some time off in December and this was refused. What he should have done was book the rest off in Jan - Mar then but he didn't realise he needed to give such long notice (as the forms they use state 6 weeks before).

The staff in Morrisons don't seem to be cross trained. DS says that booking leave seems to be a problem for check out operators only as noone can cover for them (or so his fellow workers told him today).

Ah. But wouldn't you like to bet that he now does know to make sure he books leave and takes it frequently? To be fair - it isn't an employers responsibility to tell you to take leave you are owed - and I bet he won't ever need telling again. Sometimes the hard knocks in life are the ones best remembered. Even after they are sorted out!

pandora205

richardvc wrote: »

Quite clever really - they won't let him take the time off and I bet they won't offer to pay him either !!

No - he's been told that he won't be paid for the time and it can't be carried forward.

Gillyx

When I worked for Morrisons we were advised by Personnel (through signs in staff room/staff areas) and also prompted by our supervisors to book holidays as far in advance as possible, holidays become available for the coming year in April. We were always advised to book as many as possible and in my store you had to, as the majority of people, most who had accrued more holidays through working there for many years, would put in 5/6 weeks holiday in writing to personnel as soon as the window was open, and if you didn't you were left with nothing basically.

Across the store they are allowed a certain percentage of holidays per week (relating to how many hours there are contracted across the store) this is then filtered down to departments, so for example Checkouts may be allowed 120 hours of holiday a week, this would equate to 3 people on full time hours taking a weeks holiday each, so that would effectively "close" that week for holidays for that department, at least that's how it worked when I was there, So even if noone anywhere else in store was off on holiday that week, there still wouldn't be the availability.

If I was your son (and I've seen it happen) the best thing to do would be to go to personnel say about the amount of holidays he has left and if he can be completely flexible with when he can take the time off. They will more than likely work around him and find him the time off somewhere, although it may not be time of his choosing.

If you need any more advice I'm happy to help as I was a supervisor for a while

Lakeuk

When I worked for Morrisons donkeys years ago I was in a similar position but with a good outcome, I worked part time after school and on a saturday and at the time I didn't think of holidays then when I left school I went full time whilst I figured out what to do with my life.

A couple of months into being full time I was called to a meeting by my manager and personnel manager and given a light warning for filling a document incorrectly when check weighing instore made ready meals. At the end of the meeting something clicked about holidays and I asked how many I had to take, was told I'd not taken any and was due 4 weeks, it was then I was told it was only a month till the end of the holiday year so I took the month of. They didn't take account that it should of been pro-rato and I being typical teenage knew no different, in fact now I think about it I think they ignored any pro-rota on anything as when I left it was one week into the 4 week period and I got paid for 4 weeks instead of 1 week or maybe it was holidays I was due

Do Morrisions still have personell managers in-store or have they cut down to time keepers

You son needs to say to a manager he's due x days that need to be taken by end of holiday year, that he's flexiable when they are taken, doesn't want to loss them but wants them booked so he can plan a holiday. If he can suggest dates he'd like to take then it's in Morrisons court to say yes or give alternative dates

pandora205

Gillyx wrote: »

When I worked for Morrisons we were advised by Personnel (through signs in staff room/staff areas) and also prompted by our supervisors to book holidays as far in advance as possible, holidays become available for the coming year in April. We were always advised to book as many as possible and in my store you had to, as the majority of people, most who had accrued more holidays through working there for many years, would put in 5/6 weeks holiday in writing to personnel as soon as the window was open, and if you didn't you were left with nothing basically.

Across the store they are allowed a certain percentage of holidays per week (relating to how many hours there are contracted across the store) this is then filtered down to departments, so for example Checkouts may be allowed 120 hours of holiday a week, this would equate to 3 people on full time hours taking a weeks holiday each, so that would effectively "close" that week for holidays for that department, at least that's how it worked when I was there, So even if noone anywhere else in store was off on holiday that week, there still wouldn't be the availability.

If I was your son (and I've seen it happen) the best thing to do would be to go to personnel say about the amount of holidays he has left and if he can be completely flexible with when he can take the time off. They will more than likely work around him and find him the time off somewhere, although it may not be time of his choosing.

If you need any more advice I'm happy to help as I was a supervisor for a while

Thanks Gillyx - that's helpful. I can see it could be a problem if everyone wanted to take leave at the same time so that most workers would do this as soon as possible. But bear in mind he doesn't want school holidays or even the summer, it does seem unreasonable.

I've been checking the ACAS leaflet about taking holidays and this is helpful.
http://www.acas.org.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=955&p=0
It suggests informal negotiation first, and hopefully this is what my son will do, and your suggestion of flexibility is sensible (although he's already offered to do this). However, he may need to escalate this if he is denied all leave. It is a legal requirement to take it (see ACAS and direct.gov sites), so I think he would need to take advice if this isn't permitted.

paddedjohn

richardvc wrote: »

Quite clever really - they won't let him take the time off and I bet they won't offer to pay him either !!

They are not allowed to buy the holidays back. Use them or lose them, although you can carry forward up to 1.6 weeks with the agreement of your employer.