Holiday in busy work periods

hugoboss2

Hello All,

I work in a reasonably small office where the work load is around x4 busier at one point in the year than the rest for around 2 months.

I work through an agency so I am unable to carry over holiday into the next year and the busy period is where my holiday entitlement ends.

My question is, if I have two weeks holiday and only one month to take it, even if I am needed in the office, am I entitled to take my holiday no questions asked?

Any help is appreciated.

Takeaway_Addict

I believe that they only have to give you the opportunity to take it, presumably you have had the rest of the year to use this holiday and if the employer has a no holiday policy during X-Y then I would think they might stand a chance defending themselves.

Takeaway_Addict

And to add, if you did kick a fuss up over this the employer if they had any sense would make you take your holiday next year when they wanted you to take it.

Podge52

If the employer had any sense they would have ensured that all holidays would have been taken before the busy period if the busy period comes at the end of the holiday year.

Op you are entitled to the statutory minimum of 28 days. If the employer has failed to ensure those holidays are taken before their busy period then that's their problem not yours.

However as TA has pointed out expecting your statutory rights can lead to hardship in the future.

Takeaway_Addict

Podge52 wrote: »

If the employer had any sense they would have ensured that all holidays would have been taken before the busy period if the busy period comes at the end of the holiday year.

Op you are entitled to the statutory minimum of 28 days. If the employer has failed to ensure those holidays are taken before their busy period then that's their problem not yours.

However as TA has pointed out expecting your statutory rights can lead to hardship in the future.

Agree but I'm sure SarEl once said that they only have to give you the opportunity to take the holiday, not actually force you to take it.

Though, this of course could be wrong.

anamenottaken

hugoboss2 wrote: »

Hello All,

I work in a reasonably small office where the work load is around x4 busier at one point in the year than the rest for around 2 months.

I work through an agency so I am unable to carry over holiday into the next year and the busy period is where my holiday entitlement ends.

My question is, if I have two weeks holiday and only one month to take it, even if I am needed in the office, am I entitled to take my holiday no questions asked?

Any help is appreciated.

Is that holiday year imposed by the agency or the client?

When does the holiday year end?

How much holiday would you have left to take at the end of the year?

If the holiday year is imposed by the agency, then can you take holiday ahead of the busy period but have it unpaid at the time but be paid at the end of the holiday year at the time when you would be working - it would simply be a delayed payment. (This is a work round because really you should be paid at the time you take the holiday but agencies tend not to want to pay ahead of holiday accrual. Depending on the agency, you might get their agreement to pay you at the holiday time if they know they can rely on your continuing to earn for them.)

With agreement of all concerned, some holiday (1.6 weeks) can be carried forward to the next holiday year. So that could cope with a significant portion of that accrued leave.

BoJangles_2

The company might allow the days to be carried over if business requires you to be in.

PasturesNew

I'd approach the agency and explain the client's needs - and request that you can carry your holiday forward - giving them (soonest) dates when you'd like that to be. The agency contract will be black/white to cover many, many temps - and so they are able to be flexible if you speak to them and explain it's their client's needs that have to be met.

Ask properly/nicely, give them specific dates you'd like your holiday to be, get it in writing, I bet it'll get the OK.

specialboy

You can only carry forward 1.6 weeks of the stat min and that is only with the agreement of both party's. if you were made aware of the company policy of not taking leave during the busy period and didn't use them at an earlier date then you could well lose them.

hugoboss2

Thank you for your replies, the way holiday works is essentially, you gain a day every two weeks, but you must have worked those two weeks first to gain a day.

So when it comes into the final holiday period, it is pretty black and white by the agency that if not taken, hard luck you will lose them.

The only issue I have is that this only really allows for the odd day off near the end of the agencies stated year end date rather than allowing an actual extended period of time.

I would much prefer to try and take a full week off but can also appreciate the difficult position it puts my place of employment in.

Again, thank you for your replies, it is nice to hear other perspectives on the matter.

Podge52

Your reply has thrown a completely different perspective on this and your employer and I mean the place where you work, is blameless.

In the circumstances I wouldn't leave my boss in the lurch by taking holidays when I'm needed.

As regards the agency I'm not 100% sure that they are calculating your holiday entitlement legally.

Is your boss aware of the clash between the agencies holiday year end and their busy period?