Annual leave at christmas

Mr_no_dough

Hi guys, I don't know if you can help me but I'm having an issue booking time off at Christmas, I am a security guard and am on a night shift on 22nd/23rd/24th/25th of December 1900hrs-0700hrs, Now the company has a policy wherein we can not book annual leave between 15th December-5th January inclusive, I understand why this is done, to stop a plethora of annual leave applications for the Christmas dates leaving the company understaffed, But I was allowed to book off the 23rd/24th/25th/26th off in 2012 plus the new years eve/new years day shifts I was allocated, so I don't understand why it is suddenly a problem now? From another angle, we were short staffed on Monday 5th August for 8 hours (0700-1500) due to somebody phoning in sick and a minor incident occurred where the operations manager on the site I work was livid, But we explained to him that we were short and he understood, when our area manager finally turned up to "help" out at 15.05pm he apologised for the late showing of a cover guard but remarked he couldn't help us earlier as it was Ramadan so a vast portion of the staff were on annual leave, now whatever religion or ethnicity I do not care a jot, but why is it different I ask? Is there anything I can do? I have only asked for 24th and 25th off so i'm not asking for the entire festive period off as I did in 2012 but I just want to know if there are any loopholes I can exploit or just call in sick , Just for the purpose of detail I don't work in an environment which is noticeably busier (i:e retail,supermarket,pub etc:,) so it's not a case of being extremely busy so not having a choice in the matter, Any help much appreciated, Thanks

Undervalued

Sadly, unless your contract gives you specific rights, your employer is entitled to dictate when you can and cannot take your annual leave.

You have a right to 28 days per year (assuming you are full time) but you must comply with any rules the employer sets about when you can take time off.

In employment law there is nothing special about bank holidays, even Christmas Day.

If you call in sick and your employer finds out you were not you could potentially be sacked for gross misconduct.

ohreally

Mr_no_dough wrote: »

But I was allowed to book off the 23rd/24th/25th/26th off in 2012 plus the new years eve/new years day shifts I was allocated, so I don't understand why it is suddenly a problem now?

Between being livid and exploting the christmas a/l, why not let someone-else get a chance?

RichardD1970

As far as I'm aware the employer can stipulate when you take your holiday. Be careful puling a sickie especially if you have already asked for the time off, it will look a bit suspicious and could get you into trouble.

As for the Ramadan thing, well I would suspect that people who have time off then are actually celebrating a religious festival. If you are a practising Christian and celebrate actual Christmas as opposed to the over commercialised booze-fest, then you may have good grounds for having the 25th off.

p00hsticks

Mr_no_dough wrote: »

But I was allowed to book off the 23rd/24th/25th/26th off in 2012 plus the new years eve/new years day shifts I was allocated, so I don't understand why it is suddenly a problem now?

Perhaps the thinking is that as you had the whole of the festive period off the year before last, they should now give one of your colleagues the opportunity to have the same ?

bargainbetty

You were lucky in 2012. You aren't this year. At Christmas, bars and clubs need for higher levels of staff to handle the parties and subsequent drunkenness than you tend to find at Ramadan (being all non-alcoholic and that) and it also tends to affect days shifts rather than night shifts depending on when it falls during the year.

Ask if you can put in a 'pre-request', so that if the policy is relaxed, you have first refusal. Ultimately, as long as you have the chance to book the full number of days and have adequate warning of the dates that are not available, you're stuck with it.

specialboy

Dont forget,if you have the Xmas off somebody else as got to work the extra hours to cover or you, you had the whole period off the year before last o its odeon e else's turn now if they relax the rules.

theoretica

Are you permitted to swap shifts? Would one of your Muslim colleagues like to do this?

dawyldthing

we have a blanket ban of the same sort. the only way around it is if you can swap with others which might help if it is enhanced pay as some aren't overly bothered about Christmas