Can I Refuse To Work More Than My Contracted Hours if I Need Occasional Days Off?

Mehitabel

Thankyou again. I will indeed check out Aldi (so to speak!) I too have heard good things about them.

The cake has been almost conclusively iced by the fact that my requests for a couple of short periods of holiday have been ignored... Yet I've been randomly (or, I could almost wonder, spitefully?) allocated Holiday for days I would be able and willing to work.  I think it may well be time to call a halt.  Tellingly, the prospect fills me with relief ; the stress-pain in the lower gut fades...

Undervalued

Mehitabel said:

Thankyou again. I will indeed check out Aldi (so to speak!) I too have heard good things about them.

The cake has been almost conclusively iced by the fact that my requests for a couple of short periods of holiday have been ignored... Yet I've been randomly (or, I could almost wonder, spitefully?) allocated Holiday for days I would be able and willing to work.  I think it may well be time to call a halt.  Tellingly, the prospect fills me with relief ; the stress-pain in the lower gut fades...

Unless there are any contractual terms to the contrary, any employer can totally dictate when an employee must take their holiday just by giving fairly minimal notice. Your right is to 28 days holiday per year (pro rata if not full time) but you have no legal right to choose when to take it.

It would be perfectly lawful for an employer to close for 28 days per year and allow no other holiday at all!

Mehitabel

What I used to do was only request annual leave if I didn't need that specific day off. If I did need a specific day off I wouldn't bother requesting it, I'd just phone in sick. Not very moral I know and would have made it even more inconvenient for them to get cover for my shift, but served them right for being how they were about annual leave. Maybe that's what you should do in the future.

It's absurd and sad to be forced into doing this, but this is just what I'll be doing in future. I've learned the lesson!

This experience -- which has included being yelled at by the manager over the phone, when I hadn't even called to speak to him -- has certainly made me value my OTHER employer all the more!

custardy

" only published two (or three, if we're lucky) weeks ahead"  only?

TELLIT01

The OP has said they have two jobs.  What do they do if the shift times clash?

Jude57

I think unfortunately with supermarkets it seems to come down to how good the actual store management is. Two of my friends are early retired and work part time for the same national supermarket chain, in different branches and the difference between them seems like night and day. I can't even say that the friend having a nightmare time of it is prone to whinging! I've worked with both these friends and the one having problems is the easiest, most flexible and hardworking of the two. My friend is actively looking for a new job and luckily he could just leave but doesn't want to leave them in the lurch!

Mehitabel

Jude57 said:

I think unfortunately with supermarkets it seems to come down to how good the actual store management is. Two of my friends are early retired and work part time for the same national supermarket chain, in different branches and the difference between them seems like night and day. I can't even say that the friend having a nightmare time of it is prone to whinging!

This has been very much my impression. The manager of the branch where I work never replies to emails, never reviews Holiday or Day Off requests, refuses even to look me in the eye when we pass ... and is abusive on the phone. My own grievances aside, the store is incredibly badly run. But in fairness, I've no reason to think that's the case throughout the company.

I seem to have come across as a spoilt madam, from some of the responses on here. And maybe I am. Spoilt, that is, by always having worked for employers where you are informed of your working pattern at least three or four weeks ahead; have some say in the dates of your Holidays;  are able, as a part-timer, to request specific days off and get a Yes or No in response, not vague evasions until it's too late...  and have a clear idea which member of the management team to contact with which query, knowing you will receive a response. 

TELLIT01 said:

The OP has said they have two jobs.  What do they do if the shift times clash?

I gave the supermarket a spreadsheet, showing the times I'm committed to the other job, which is summer-seasonal.

Undervalued

Mehitabel said:

Jude57 said:

I think unfortunately with supermarkets it seems to come down to how good the actual store management is. Two of my friends are early retired and work part time for the same national supermarket chain, in different branches and the difference between them seems like night and day. I can't even say that the friend having a nightmare time of it is prone to whinging!

This has been very much my impression. The manager of the branch where I work never replies to emails, never reviews Holiday or Day Off requests, refuses even to look me in the eye when we pass ... and is abusive on the phone. My own grievances aside, the store is incredibly badly run. But in fairness, I've no reason to think that's the case throughout the company.

I seem to have come across as a spoilt madam, from some of the responses on here. And maybe I am. Spoilt, that is, by always having worked for employers where you are informed of your working pattern at least three or four weeks ahead; have some say in the dates of your Holidays;  are able, as a part-timer, to request specific days off and get a Yes or No in response, not vague evasions until it's too late...  and have a clear idea which member of the management team to contact with which query, knowing you will receive a response. 

TELLIT01 said:

The OP has said they have two jobs.  What do they do if the shift times clash?

I gave the supermarket a spreadsheet, showing the times I'm committed to the other job, which is summer-seasonal.

I think the point that people are trying to get across is this....

You may well have experienced far more staff friendly work situations in the past but that is not the same thing as having a right to the degree of flexibility you would like. Ultimately, providing they stay within the law, the firm can act as they please. Obviously, if they overdo it they are likely to struggle to recruit and retain good staff but if they feel their overall policy works for them there is littlie you can do apart from looking for a job elsewhere.

fedster

" only 2 weeks in advance"

Only? Maybe I have been living in a different universe for the last few years or maybe it's because I have done agency work predominantly recently but I know me and my colleagues would have loved a schedule released 2 weeks in advance, having to work last minute or not knowing where you will be working until the night before is I suspect normal practice for many people out there.

General_Grant

#Mehitabel - If you don't get responses (approval or denial) to your requests for leave, how do you get paid for them (assuming you don't get scheduled to work on the requested days off)?  How does Payroll know what to pay?  Do they actually pay you a separate amount each time you are paid and say that's your paid leave?