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can employers specify when parts of holiday entitlement can be taken?

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  • duchy
    duchy Posts: 19,511 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker Xmas Saver!
    It might be a good idea to use the soon to be had discussion about her upcoming holiday and the difficulty of her holiday and yours going back to back as an excuse to regularize the holiday arrangements.

    A spreadsheet showing her holiday entitlement for the year and number of days she has already used/booked might help focus on the fact she isn't entitled to "double bubble" and if she goes over the allotment won't be paid .....but by the same count you also need to arrange your holidays in advance so she can plan too. As she's already booked her allotment for the year ahead this might cause a bit of discussion so focus on making it work for both of you whilst making it clear you aren't prepared to pay for a double paid holiday allowance.

    Part of this is your fault for not realizing earlier so you've set up an expectation so you need to tread gently as you don't want to fall out with her or have her take offence and quit.
    I Would Rather Climb A Mountain Than Crawl Into A Hole

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  • specialboy
    specialboy Posts: 1,436 Forumite
    Just because you get paid does not mean you accrue holidays, you accrue holidays for working.
    You just made that up, people who are on the sick sometimes get paid and accrue holidays without actually working. If the OP is paying her employee and she isn't on holiday then she is accruing it.
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,002 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    nodiscount wrote: »
    Legally you are supposed to give an employee a contract (in writing) within 8 weeks of starting.

    Do you have insurance?

    yes i have insurance.
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,002 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    nodiscount wrote: »
    There 2 easters in the next holiday year. This may complicate things further. The next holiday year after that may mean she gets less than legal minimum.

    i think you've misunderstood me.
    the only 2 bank holidays she regularly takes are xmas and easter.
    these days are taken from annual leave.
    as she takes her entitlement, we write down how many days she has taken..
    the fact that good friday is in march this year, means that she has gone over this years entitlement. ( I'm not too concerned and won't be insisting she lose a day next year)
    the issue is around when i am away.
    she gets paid but obviously isn't working. i just wanted to know if i could 'make' her use some of her holiday.
    between easter and the end of august, i am away for 3 weeks, and separate to this she usually uses another 3 weeks, so strictly sprain, in a 5 month period, she has 6 weeks paid leave.
    she uses another week at xmas, so she has another 2 weeks paid in december.
    she then has another 8 days paid leave that she takes in 1 or 2 day periods ( she always tells me in advance and will compromise if it leaves me in difficulty.

    for example ... this past xmas she wanted the whole of xmas week off. when i pointed out that it wouldn't leave me any time to do xmas food shopping, she agreed to work 23rd and take new years day off instead
  • nannytone_2
    nannytone_2 Posts: 13,002 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    duchy wrote: »
    It might be a good idea to use the soon to be had discussion about her upcoming holiday and the difficulty of her holiday and yours going back to back as an excuse to regularize the holiday arrangements.

    A spreadsheet showing her holiday entitlement for the year and number of days she has already used/booked might help focus on the fact she isn't entitled to "double bubble" and if she goes over the allotment won't be paid .....but by the same count you also need to arrange your holidays in advance so she can plan too. As she's already booked her allotment for the year ahead this might cause a bit of discussion so focus on making it work for both of you whilst making it clear you aren't prepared to pay for a double paid holiday allowance.

    Part of this is your fault for not realizing earlier so you've set up an expectation so you need to tread gently as you don't want to fall out with her or have her take offence and quit.

    my holidays are taken at the same time every year and so she is well aware of when i am not here.
    we currently use a calendar that we write her holidays on.
    social services gave me all the legal information about the terms of her employment, but it only mentioned how much holiday i needed to allow her, but nothing at all about what happens if i am away and asking her to take holidays when it suited me.
    ( my social workers best advice ... ' you're not allowed to beat her on sundays' ;) ) sadly he retired and the new social worker is clueless :(
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    nodiscount wrote: »
    There 2 easters in the next holiday year. This may complicate things further. The next holiday year after that may mean she gets less than legal minimum.

    The number of BH is irrelevant the op gives the statutory minimum for a full time 5 day+ week worker 5.6 weeks/28 days.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    nannytone wrote: »
    i think you've misunderstood me.
    the only 2 bank holidays she regularly takes are xmas and easter.
    these days are taken from annual leave.
    as she takes her entitlement, we write down how many days she has taken..
    the fact that good friday is in march this year, means that she has gone over this years entitlement. ( I'm not too concerned and won't be insisting she lose a day next year)
    the issue is around when i am away.
    she gets paid but obviously isn't working. i just wanted to know if i could 'make' her use some of her holiday.
    between easter and the end of august, i am away for 3 weeks, and separate to this she usually uses another 3 weeks, so strictly sprain, in a 5 month period, she has 6 weeks paid leave.
    she uses another week at xmas, so she has another 2 weeks paid in december.
    she then has another 8 days paid leave that she takes in 1 or 2 day periods ( she always tells me in advance and will compromise if it leaves me in difficulty.

    for example ... this past xmas she wanted the whole of xmas week off. when i pointed out that it wouldn't leave me any time to do xmas food shopping, she agreed to work 23rd and take new years day off instead

    When you are away you can have them take holiday or unpaid.

    Then decide how much extra holiday you want to give them over the statutory minimum.
  • Undervalued
    Undervalued Posts: 9,774 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    nodiscount wrote: »
    There 2 easters in the next holiday year. This may complicate things further. The next holiday year after that may mean she gets less than legal minimum.

    Bank holidays are completely irrelevant in employment law.

    The entitlement is to 5.6 weeks holiday (28 days if full time) and the employer can totally dictate which days are to be worked and which are to be taken as holiday (obviously within the limit of any contractual terms).
  • sheramber
    sheramber Posts: 23,154 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts I've been Money Tipped! Name Dropper
    Plenty of employers state when holidays can be/ must be taken.

    Trades which close for two weeks summer trades holidays.

    The company my husband worked required the employees to use three days of annual leave at Christmas when they closed down.

    As a civil servant I had to take all bank/public holidays as did my sister who worked in a bank. There was no option to work that day and have a day off another time.

    When i worked in a bank we were grouped in 4's and only one person in that group could take leave at a time.

    My son works in admin for a private school and has to use some of his annual holidays over Christmas as the school closes down completely. At other holiday times the admin section is always open. But leave has to be taken during the school holiday weeks at Easter and summer.

    He cannot take leave during September ( had to change his honeymoon dates as it was booked for September before he started working there) as that is a busy time for them.

    Teachers and other school workers are restricted to school holiday periods.
  • tomtontom
    tomtontom Posts: 7,929 Forumite
    This is a complete abuse of the Direct Payments system - you're using massively limited public funds to give your friend 51 days holiday, nearly twice the normal entitlement. If you can't sort it out then get an agency to provide your care and deal with employment matters for you.
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