Holiday Denied - Budget Constraints

stev0n

Hi


My holiday requests have been declined due to budget constraints.
I am not able to carry holidays over to next and will lose them if I can't take them.
I work part-time in a shop(national chain) and have applied to use some holidays on days I'm not working, so it doesn't affect staff levels/cover.


The manager says he only has a limited staff budget each month, which includes holiday pay.



Is this legal / fair ?


Your thoughts are appreciated.


Regards
Steve

PasturesNew

I suppose what you've tried to do is book holiday for a day you wouldn't be working - to be paid that day in addition to the days you do work.

Which is why he might have a budgetary issue with that as that's "extra money".

If you work Mon/Tue and get £100/day, the budget pays you £200.
If you're not in Mon/Tue and book it as holiday, the budget pays you £200.
If you're in Mon/Tue and book Wed as holiday, the budget pays you £300.

So that'd make sense....

Gavin83

stev0n wrote: »

Hi


My holiday requests have been declined due to budget constraints.
I am not able to carry holidays over to next and will lose them if I can't take them.
I work part-time in a shop(national chain) and have applied to use some holidays on days I'm not working, so it doesn't affect staff levels/cover.


The manager says he only has a limited staff budget each month, which includes holiday pay.



Is this legal / fair ?


Your thoughts are appreciated.


Regards
Steve

Yes. It appears your attempting to use holiday to effectively gain extra pay, I can see why most companies would disallow this. The answer is to book the holiday on days you work. If they still deny this then ask them when you can take your holiday. They can dictate when you take holiday but they can't deny you it completely so put the ball in their court.

Undervalued

stev0n wrote: »

Hi


My holiday requests have been declined due to budget constraints.
I am not able to carry holidays over to next and will lose them if I can't take them.
I work part-time in a shop(national chain) and have applied to use some holidays on days I'm not working, so it doesn't affect staff levels/cover.


The manager says he only has a limited staff budget each month, which includes holiday pay.



Is this legal / fair ?


Your thoughts are appreciated.


Regards
Steve

Unless I am misunderstanding you there is no right to do what you have proposed.

You must be allowed to take your statutory holiday (28 days per year full time so pro rata for whatever percentage of full time you work) but the employer can dictate when you can take it.

Staffing in your absence is the employer's problem to solve.

Whilst they might choose to allow you to do what you have proposed they certainly don't have to. It would, in effect, mean they are paying you for more days in total in the year than your contract requires.

Or have I misunderstood?

theoretica

If you are worried you will lose the holiday and all your requests are being turned down, ask the manager to choose times and schedule them in, with reasonable notice.

Me2you

Why are you asking for holidays on days you don’t work?

dawyldthing

Probably to not leave them short staffed. I’ve done it before if I’ve wanted the annual leave pay but haven’t felt like I needed the holiday.

I’d put in a week or 2 and then see what they say. They can dictate when you can have holiday, but they have to let you have it at some point

System

stev0n wrote: »

I work part-time in a shop(national chain) and have applied to use some holidays on days I'm not working, so it doesn't affect staff levels/cover.

Under the Working Time Directive they have to give you the opportunity to take your statutory annual leave regardless of whether it doesn't fit in with their staffing requirements or cashflow once you get near the end of the holiday year and still have some to take.

Because of the EU statutory minimum paid annual leave of 20 days you can only "sell" 8 days annual leave back to the company. It is illegal for them to allow you to take any less than 20 days and they must force you to take them regardless of whether or not you wish to.

If you are getting near to the end of the holiday year at your work inform your manager you still have however many days to take and if they don't allow you to take them then they're committing an offence under the Working Time Regulations. If the manager still won't then escalate it above their head to the area manager.

Merlin139

Whichever national chain you work for you have poor managers! If your Holiday year runs January to December then everyone's holiday should have been scheduled by now. If it runs April to March then there should be ample time to schedule your holiday.

If your requests have been declined then they need to offer other dates that may not be what you want but do allow you to take your holiday.

If booking all holiday for everyone goes over agreed holiday levels or budgets then either these are too low for the number of staff or not enough was taken early in the year! Again another management failure!

sangie595

Merlin139 wrote: »

Whichever national chain you work for you have poor managers! If your Holiday year runs January to December then everyone's holiday should have been scheduled by now. If it runs April to March then there should be ample time to schedule your holiday.

If your requests have been declined then they need to offer other dates that may not be what you want but do allow you to take your holiday.

If booking all holiday for everyone goes over agreed holiday levels or budgets then either these are too low for the number of staff or not enough was taken early in the year! Again another management failure!

(A) It is equally an employee's responsibility to ensure that they book their leave, and not to leave it until the last minute, especially, one would have thought, to a last minute that includes the Christmas period.
(B) There is no evidence that they declined holiday. It appears they declined to pay for holiday, which is, in any case, not lawful. In order to have a holiday, one must first actually be working! In this case the OP asked for holiday on a day they don't work!

sangie595

Tarambor wrote: »

Under the Working Time Directive they have to give you the opportunity to take your statutory annual leave regardless of whether it doesn't fit in with their staffing requirements or cashflow once you get near the end of the holiday year and still have some to take.

Because of the EU statutory minimum paid annual leave of 20 days you can only "sell" 8 days annual leave back to the company. It is illegal for them to allow you to take any less than 20 days and they must force you to take them regardless of whether or not you wish to.

If you are getting near to the end of the holiday year at your work inform your manager you still have however many days to take and if they don't allow you to take them then they're committing an offence under the Working Time Regulations. If the manager still won't then escalate it above their head to the area manager.

This is not accurate. Your cannot sell any of your statutory leave of 28 days - only leave that exceeds that. The provision you speak of was a transitional arrangement when changes to statutory leave were being introduced. UK statutory leave is 28 days. That, or the pro rata equivalent, is what employees should take.

An employer is not required to force someone to take leave. They would be advised to ensure they have adequate records of someone who refuses to, and forcing them to would be in the employees best interests. But the law doesn't go that far as to say they must force someone to take leave.

The OPs manager has refused to allow them to take holiday on a day they do not work, which is, in effect, payment for statutory leave. Which is not lawful. The OP must book leave on a day that they work.