Holiday request being turned down

Leaseholder49

Hi,

Not really a money saving question but here goes anyway!

I have put in a leave request at work for 3 days off, 1 month in advance. My boss turned it down without a reason. There is no one else in my team off at that time, and there is no unusual work scheduled for that time which would make it inconvenient.

I've never had this happen before in previous jobs (only been at the company 6 months), so wanted to check what the legalities around holiday requests are. I've already been told by HR that there is no company policy restriction on me taking holiday as I'm new.

I'm halfway through the holiday year and have not used any holiday yet. If my boss can just unilaterally decline holiday requests, could I get to a point where I am 1 month from the end of the holiday year and still have all my holiday (23 days) left?? Is there any sort of employment regulation that covers this?

Many thanks!

Southend1

Have you asked your manager why he turned it down? Have you asked him when would be a convenient time to take a few days off?

Leaseholder49

He said 'your boss (i.e. him speaking in the 3rd person) would like you to be here then'.

Get the impression he likes to throw his weight about.

Haven't asked about alternative time off, as if I can't get those dates I don't have any other need of holiday at the moment.

Southend1

Sounds like he's a bit of a !!!!!!! Try asking him what you would need to do to facilitate him allowing you those days off. E.g would it help if a colleague agreed to cover for you, or you worked some overtime the week before and after to keep your work going?

Uncertain

Leaseholder49 wrote: »

Hi,

If my boss can just unilaterally decline holiday requests, could I get to a point where I am 1 month from the end of the holiday year and still have all my holiday (23 days) left?? Is there any sort of employment regulation that covers this?

With very few limits an employer can tell you when you must take your holiday. Obviously you do have to ba allowed to take it at some point and very little (can't remember the exact number of days) can be carried over from one year to the next. This applies to your STATUTORY holiday (28 days per year). If you get more than this then the firm can have pretty much any rules it likes regarding the extra days.

Your contract or employee handbook may give you additional contractual rights.

gibson123

put another request in for the same dates, if that is turned down with no reason, do it again. If he is being petty he probably did not even take note of the dates.

Uncertain

Southend1 wrote: »

Sounds like he's a bit of a !!!!!!! Try asking him what you would need to do to facilitate him allowing you those days off. E.g would it help if a colleague agreed to cover for you, or you worked some overtime the week before and after to keep your work going?

That is all fine and may possibly help but the employer doesn't actually have to give a reason.

Nicki

Leaseholder49 wrote: »

He said 'your boss (i.e. him speaking in the 3rd person) would like you to be here then'.

Get the impression he likes to throw his weight about.

Haven't asked about alternative time off, as if I can't get those dates I don't have any other need of holiday at the moment.

Have you asked any colleagues whether they have had problems booking holiday?

If no one else has ever had a problem, then based on how he has phrased this refusal (which is a bit odd) it could be that he has reasons why he doesn't want you off at that particular time which he doesn't want to share with you. Eg - that someone who does the same job as you has warned him that they may need time off around then at short notice for an important reason they may not want to broadcast (young unmarried daughter due to give birth, they or their partner undergoing IVF, relative in end stages of terminal illness being some examples).

Southend1

Uncertain wrote: »

That is all fine and may possibly help but the employer doesn't actually have to give a reason.

I think it would be a good start for the OP to ask why! This would help him achieve a favourable outcome for both himself and the boss. If the boss doesn't want to give a reason then fine, the OP just needs to know if there is anything he can do to get the boss to agree to the time off.

The boss isn't doing himself any favours acting as he is, even if he's not actually doing anything "wrong" or illegal. He's just coming across as a bit of a !!!!!! and is likely to end up with a whole lot of unhappy employees on his hands!

DarkFallout

Leaseholder49 wrote: »

Hi,

Not really a money saving question but here goes anyway!

I have put in a leave request at work for 3 days off, 1 month in advance. My boss turned it down without a reason. There is no one else in my team off at that time, and there is no unusual work scheduled for that time which would make it inconvenient.

I've never had this happen before in previous jobs (only been at the company 6 months), so wanted to check what the legalities around holiday requests are. I've already been told by HR that there is no company policy restriction on me taking holiday as I'm new.

I'm halfway through the holiday year and have not used any holiday yet. If my boss can just unilaterally decline holiday requests, could I get to a point where I am 1 month from the end of the holiday year and still have all my holiday (23 days) left?? Is there any sort of employment regulation that covers this?

Many thanks!

You have an option to tell him that you can't carry more than 3 days to the next year and you are usually expected to take your annual leave evenly through the year. So you need to discuss the problem and you may let him know that if it goes like that it is likely you will need to take all your AL at the end of the year.

CKhalvashi

Uncertain wrote: »

That is all fine and may possibly help but the employer doesn't actually have to give a reason.

There are occasionally commercially sensitive bits of work happening, which will mean that although I'm reluctant to say what, I will refuse leave.

Apart from that, there's not generally problem, and the above doesn't happen often.

CK