Annual leave 13 January at 11:59AM in Employment, jobseeking & training 12 replies 531 views

jayjosam

My annual leave starts on 1st of may and my employer has said I have to accrue holidays before I can use them therefore I will never have enough holidays for a summer holiday with my family is that allowed 

diystarter7

Hi
How long have you been there?
Thanks

DullGreyGuy

Presumably, given you wont acrue your final day until the last day of the holiday year, you can carry days forward into the next year? In which case the issue is only for the first year

baser999

Is this a new job? Have you perhaps misunderstood leave arrangements? Spoken to other staff about it? 

Generally it’s only bank or public holidays that have to be accumulated before available for leave. In normal circumstances you’d take leave and if you exceeded pro-rata entitlement by the time you left, your final salary would be adjusted. Perhaps the employer means you have to work, say, 10 days before you can take that many days off? 

jayjosam

Hi,  My second year will start on March 5th and no that is the problem it states in my contract that you cannot carry over holidays so I have to use what I have left before May, that is what they are saying I don't understand it 

Undervalued

jayjosam said:

My annual leave starts on 1st of may and my employer has said I have to accrue holidays before I can use them therefore I will never have enough holidays for a summer holiday with my family is that allowed 

Indirectly yes.

An employer can dictate when you can and cannot take your holiday so, irrespective of any accrual considerations, they could say no holiday in the summer months if they so choose.

Your entitlement it to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid annual leave (if full time) to be taken when the employer says. Although not common, an employer could close for 5.6 weeks per year and allow no other leave at all!

baser999

jayjosam said:

Hi,  My second year will start on March 5th and no that is the problem it states in my contract that you cannot carry over holidays so I have to use what I have left before May, that is what they are saying I don't understand it 

So it’s a case of ‘use it or lose it’. Looks as if you’ll have to take time off even if you have no plans to go away. Wouldn’t knock it. 

Then when you get to the start of your leave year the entitlement will start again

jayjosam

Yeah but my problem is the leave year doesn't start until may and I have to accrue them from then so therefore I won't be able to have any time off over the summer holidays to have a holiday with my children and I work away all week so we look forward to our summer holiday, I am going to speak to them about it and if there is no way around it I will be looking for another job, thanks for your help

74jax

Can you not go in August when you will have accrued 2 weeks? 

Undervalued

jayjosam said:

Yeah but my problem is the leave year doesn't start until may and I have to accrue them from then so therefore I won't be able to have any time off over the summer holidays to have a holiday with my children and I work away all week so we look forward to our summer holiday, I am going to speak to them about it and if there is no way around it I will be looking for another job, thanks for your help

All you can do is ask nicely and they may (well) agree. As explained there are no "rights" for you to insist on.

Tucosalamanca

Some employers use this method but it often creates issues around the end of year when everyone wants to take their accrued leave at the same time.
You have the right to time off or to to be paid for holidays (so effectively double time for the holiday days worked).
Your employer might be trying it on, assuming that employees don't know their rights or are afraid to exercise them.
If they're not working in a fair and transparent way, I'd be inclined to find different employment.