holiday entitlement

tomdickharry

Hello
I work in factory of around 80 people, our 4 weeks holidays are usually picked around october for the following year and left with 4.5 days floating,

quite a few staff are also given bank holidays as their day off for that week when they come around, the factory never opens bank holiday either, so that way they still get 5 days work out of them that week (we work mon-to-sat with a day off within) so the credits takes them to around 11.5 to 12.5 left to pick,

then some have already carried over days from the previous year, company policy states 5 days maximum at the discretion of the manager.

we now have some staff with 12-20 days leave left to pick up to april, this after already having 4 weeks off too,
the management put a stop to any new leave requests this september to november due to staffing issues and nobody is allowed leave in december anyway.

some are happy to carry days forward as they are not keen on been off in the winter but what's the point if you end up next year and still can't book them when the weathers nicer?

the situation is now that there is still not enough empty slots to use up their holiday allowance in the 3 months left in the year (jan to mar)
i'd guess if we are kept being refused leave requests in january and february we could just say "i'm not working in march"

we have no union to ask so what can we do? we are in this situation due to job cuts this year and some don't want to rock the boat in case they come for even more cuts.

(sorry if it long and confusing)

dawyldthing

Could you ask to be paid them or put them as days off when you get the mid week days off (not ideal but I know that's what my place do)

tomdickharry

some do work them but our overtime rate is pretty poor,
i.e book a week off but agree to work it = 39hrs + 39hrs on overtime rates,
ours drops at certain stages, never done it myself but some say after stoppages they don't draw 2 weeks wages either, not sure of that though, yes its extra money which is always welcome but to be honest most need a rest too.

also don't know what you mean with "put them as days off when you get the mid week days off" when its already a day off?

i personally want to know if i can demand my owed leave this year,
i'm unsure as i've already had my minimum days off but accrued more due to bank holiday credits and carried some over from the previous year.

as i've said, i can't see the point of carrying more over to next year knowing they cannot be booked anyway as things stand.

specialboy

The maximum you can carry over is 1.6 weeks (8 days for a full timer) and only with the agreement of both parties.

tomdickharry

specialboy wrote: »

The maximum you can carry over is 1.6 weeks (8 days for a full timer) and only with the agreement of both parties.

ours is 5 days but because they've blocked any new authorized leave for 4 months and limited availability jan-mar its impossible for some to use it all in the year.
And to be fair, unless you can afford an holiday abroad would you want 2/3 weeks off in feb/mar?

theoretica

If you think you will not be able to take the legal entitlement (often 28 days - the law makes no distinction for if these are bank holidays, bank holiday credits or normal leave) then you can ask your work to tell you when you can take these days. You might not like the days you are assigned, but employers are permitted to tell you when to take leave. However, I think you say that you have had the 28. I don't know of any legal entitlement to be allowed to take this year the leave you carried over from last year.

sangie595

tomdickharry wrote: »

we have no union to ask so what can we do?

You have no union to ask because you didn't join one. Perhaps you now, belatedly, see the point of joining one?

But as already said, as long as you get your statutory leave there is little you can do. But you also cannot "rule out" taking holiday in Feb/March just because you can't afford to go abroad. It may not be great weather, but the law doesn't say that you are entitled to holidays during good weather. If that is what is available, then you take it then, or you don't take it. It may not be what you want, but the employer could dictate all of your holiday dates if they wanted to, and I doubt you'd like that any better.