Holidays left to take....but can't

mamabuddah

In a job where there's a holiday entitlement, but you can't get days off, because there's no one to cover ( private small business employer ) because you're the only one to work in the stores, can your employer state that if you don't take holidays, you lose them and because you didn't take them you cannot claim payment for them?

WestonDave

In general no - but with some caveats. Under the regulations you have to be allowed to take 4 weeks holiday (however many days per week you work) otherwise they are in breach. However they can direct when you take them. In general you shouldn't ever get paid for untaken holiday unless its an amount of holiday which exceeds the statutory minimum. (i.e. if I get 5 weeks and don't take a week then I can be paid for that but not for 2 weeks because I'd then only have taken 3). Of course that does get bent by agreement by both sides but its not one to push as an employer on an unwilling employee!

Xbigman

An employer must let you take holidays but they can tell you when to take them.
If holiday requests are constantly turned down then you need to politely ask when holidays are available for you to take. If you still don't get an answer put the request for dates in writing.



Darren

getmore4less

WestonDave wrote: »

In general no - but with some caveats. Under the regulations you have to be allowed to take 4 weeks holiday (however many days per week you work) otherwise they are in breach. However they can direct when you take them. In general you shouldn't ever get paid for untaken holiday unless its an amount of holiday which exceeds the statutory minimum. (i.e. if I get 5 weeks and don't take a week then I can be paid for that but not for 2 weeks because I'd then only have taken 3). Of course that does get bent by agreement by both sides but its not one to push as an employer on an unwilling employee!

Given statutory holidays a 5.6 weeks you would not be getting enough if you only got 5

sangie595

getmore4less wrote: »

Given statutory holidays a 5.6 weeks you would not be getting enough if you only got 5

Agreed. I think the poster is confusing different things.

Statutory leave in the UK is 5.6 weeks / 28 days (pro-rata for part-time workers). If you are not getting that then you are not getting enough. Employers do not have the right to opt out of 1.6 weeks because they feel like it. The employer is responsible for ensuring a worker can take their full 5.6 weeks entitlement, which may mean that they can tell them when they can take it, but does not mean that they can decide that employees can't take it at all.

Employers are no longer allowed to buy back (pay for) any statutory leave. That provision was temporary (and hasn't applied for quite a few years) in order to allow for the transitioning to greater amounts of statutory leave. They may pay for leave when a contract terminates, but that applies to leave during that particular year - not previous years. They may also agree to allow some statutory leave (over four weeks - so 1.6 weeks of leave) to be carried over into the next year and ADDED to the 5.6 weeks of statutory leave.

Past that, the rules is use it or lose it. You cannot be forced to take leave, but you cannot be prevented from taking it. The employer is legally responsible for sorting out the arrangements - not the employee. So they must either tell you when to take it, or arrange for you to be able to take it when you want.

In European law, there is an absolute minimum of 4 weeks leave that is applied across the EU. Individual countries may increase that amount, but may not go lower. That is why some European judgements about holiday have been confusing for people - until or unless the UK government amends its own laws, European judgements about holidays can only cover the 4 weeks of European law, not the increased amount given by individual states.