Coronavirus/Is this legal?

Chucklechops

Hi

My brother works for a company whose boss has sent an email to the whole of the company stating that any employee who has booked holiday to be taken during April & May, is now not allowed to cancel their holiday.

Obviously, most employees who have booked time off during these months will want to cancel their holiday, as they won't be able to do anything during their break due to the virus.

Obviously, the boss is an odious man, but in terms of employment law, is he doing anything wrong?

Many thanks for any guidance.

middleclassbutpoor

I believe it is legal and a quick google would appear to back this up. 

Perhaps the 'odious man' is thinking more clearly for his employees than they can for themselves?

If the business cannot fully function and operate at this time and it is likely now going to spend time trying to recover when things do start to return to normal; what you don't want is your business to then have operational issues when your entire workforce all try to take their holidays at once and cause prolonged issues. 

The situation is unprecedented, maybe those people who still have jobs should be more aware of what a true issue is at the moment.  

elsien

I was on holiday this week. Everything I had planned - meals out, day trips, theatre - was cancelled. So I've had a relaxing week at home instead, pottering in the garden, walking the dog, and generally feeling quite pleased to be able to do what I want when I want without feeling I have to do something constructive to make the time off worthwhile.
The boss is being sensible. None of us know how long the travel ban etc might be in place for, it may carry on all summer, and what he really doesn't need is all his employees then trying to cram in months worth of leave before the end of the leave year. 

TELLIT01

A company can decide when all holiday is taken, so it's even possible that employees will be told they have to use all their annual holiday allowance during this period.

DCFC79

Chucklechops said:

Hi

My brother works for a company whose boss has sent an email to the whole of the company stating that any employee who has booked holiday to be taken during April & May, is now not allowed to cancel their holiday.

Obviously, most employees who have booked time off during these months will want to cancel their holiday, as they won't be able to do anything during their break due to the virus.

Obviously, the boss is an odious man, but in terms of employment law, is he doing anything wrong?

Many thanks for any guidance.

Has your brother checked his contract ?

Takeaway_Addict

Chucklechops said:

Hi

My brother works for a company whose boss has sent an email to the whole of the company stating that any employee who has booked holiday to be taken during April & May, is now not allowed to cancel their holiday.

Obviously, most employees who have booked time off during these months will want to cancel their holiday, as they won't be able to do anything during their break due to the virus.

Obviously, the boss is an odious man, but in terms of employment law, is he doing anything wrong?

Many thanks for any guidance.

So you expect him to then have to get everyone to take their full allowance for the year in a smaller timescale? Its not great but the boss is thinking long term effectiveness of the company

JReacher1

I don't think this is remotely odious. 
If when this dies down everyone has a full holiday allowance to take in just a small number of months it will be ridiculous.  Personally as a company can choose when someone takes their holiday I would be recommending that everyone is forced to take 1/12th of their allowance each month

KatrinaWaves

It’s gonna be the same for us. Especially considering some are gonna come back after 12 weeks off with 6 weeks holiday entitlement, where are the rest of us gonna fit it in 😬

gettingtheresometime

The other way of looking at it is that they'll be paid at their holiday rate

steampowered

Yes, its lawful. The law allows employers to decide when employees take holiday, so long as the employer gives enough notice.

I am sympathetic with the employer. Otherwise they'd end up with people all having an enormous amount of leave accrued when they get back to work.

TBagpuss

Yes, it's lawful, and not particularly odious. It's not the employers fault that staff can't use their holidays as they originally planned. On the upside, it may well mean that they get paid at full pay for that time instead of the 80% they may get if they are not working. 
Employers can tell employees when to take holidays and, as others have said, it's not unreasonable to do so to try to ensure that there will be sufficient time for all staff to take their entitlement within the holiday year. 
Look at it the other way round - would your brother be happy if his employer made a habit of cancelling pre-approved holidays,in the normal run of things? If not, why would he expect to be able to do it the other way round? Of course n lots of workplaces employer do their best to be as flexible as possible and booking and agreeing holidays and holiday cancellations, but given that an awful lot of business are looking at a catastrophic situation right now, it is hardly surprising that they are focused on what benefits the business in the medium to long term, rather than what would be most convenient for their employees