Accrued Holidays - Impossible to take holidays

HammerNyne

Hello,

I work for a large, well known company. They have just sent out an email stating that we cannot take any more leave. I have 60 hours accrued.

The accrual period is from 1st Jan to 31st December and they operate a "use it or lose it" policy with no carry over.

The thing is that when you book your holidays they will only pay you for the amount already accrued between the 1st of January and the date requested and therefore for the holidays accrued for work during late November, through December to the 31st of December it is impossible to get paid for accrued leave.

Surely this is illegal?, especially with the "Use it or lose it" policy as it's impossible to take the accrued holiday? I have absolutely no problem taking them to court if this is the case and I'm sure my workmates would be glad of it too.

paddedjohn

Put a leave request in and when it's refused ask them what they propose to do about your unused allocation.

getmore4less

Only allowing accrued leave is not legal(after 1st year).

Even in the first year statutory holidays accrue in advance monthly.
(can need adjustment if you take them and leave)

Many companies don't use accrual just calculate the allowance and sort it out if you leave.

FBaby

Unless it's been communicated that it is ok to accrue holiday with the intention to take it all during the Christmas period, I think it was highly risky to assume it would be as it's hard enough to get cover around this time, I expect everyone would be doing like you.

It should be managers' job though to remind their staff of the use or lose it policy and that none of it can be taken after 15 December or so.

Di you try to take it earlier in the year and have been turned down? That would make much more unfair, but not illegal if they allow the minimum legal allowance.

TELLIT01

Just trying to clarify what is meant by 'accrued leave'. Is it additional hours worked which are to be taken as time off rather than paid? If so, were the additional hours agreed by management before being worked?

tacpot12

You have nine days of leave to take and it is 2nd December, when did you think you were going to take them?

HammerNyne

I've been with the company 5 years, they just won't allow you to take leave which will be accrued in the future which you can then pay back(if you overtake it)

HammerNyne

I took my last accrued holidays in August, between August and now I have accrued 5 days and I will accrue more in December but they(the company) will not allow the use of them. They will not allow you to take holidays for time - to be accrued in future(and pay back the time you overtake) and so therefore, any holidays you accrue in late November and December CANNOT be taken

HammerNyne

I work part-time, they have an online system which tells you how many hours leave you have accrued by law - they only give you the absolute minimum they have to and in this case - not.

HammerNyne

That's the thing, they will not allow you to take it for future accrued leave with the possibility of paying back if you dont reach that amount. It is impossible to take the holidays accrued in December because:

A: I'm not allowed to take holidays in December(emailed yesterday)

B: I can only take off time which has been accrued in the past anyway

C: The days which I work in December will accrue holidays but I'm not allowed to take them, I wouldn't be allowed to in November/September as they(the December Accruals) were in the future and they have a "Use it or Lose it Policy"

Undervalued

An employer can, with very few limits, tell you when you can and cannot take your statutory holiday. The must however allow you to actually take it or, within fairly tight limits, carry it over.

If you get more than the statutory minimum (28 days per year if full time) then they can have whatever rules they like regarding when you can and cannot take the extra days.

As somebody said earlier, start by asking them in writing when you can take your accrued statutory holiday and take it from there.