How does a birthday holiday work?

Spendless

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

Personally I'd argue that it WAS discrimination if it only affected those who had birthdays fall every year when the company was closed, because they were treating those employees differently to the ones who had a different date of birth who got an additional day off.

Thanks for the replies though, I'll just have to wait and see how they work it.  

JCS1

Spendless said:

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

Personally I'd argue that it WAS discrimination if it only affected those who had birthdays fall every year when the company was closed, because they were treating those employees differently to the ones who had a different date of birth who got an additional day off.

Thanks for the replies though, I'll just have to wait and see how they work it.  

But discrimination as defined in employment law covers gender, race, religion, etc, not what day your birthday happens to fall.  So whilst it may appear to be unfair, it would not be illegal or discrimination.  

SadieO

What a pointless faff that sounds! Just give everyone another day on their leave allowance, to be used whenever they want. Not everyone thinks their birthday is a big deal but those that do want to take their birthday off can book it as a day's leave like any other day, surely?

SadieO

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

But if you work somewhere that closes for Christmas you'd permanently have one less day of leave than your colleagues?! I don't think I'd be happy with "such is life" if that was me. 

ReadingTim

Your company's annual leave policy should tell you how it works.  Mine does, and it says this:

5. Birthday leave

5.1. Where your birthday does not fall on a normal working day, the arrangements are as follows:

• If it falls on a weekend either the Friday or Monday of that weekend must be taken
• If it falls on a Bank/Public Holiday, it must be taken either the working day before or after the Bank/Public Holiday
• If it falls during the period when you are required to take leave over the Christmas leave period, it must be taken either the day before the Christmas leave period starts or the first working day after the Christmas leave period
• If you are part-time, it must be taken either on the normal working day directly before or after your birthday.

5.2. You may not take your birthday leave entitlement outside of these arrangements.

If you've had your birthday that year before you start work, you don't get it.  If you leave in any year before your birthday, you don't get it, but if you leave after, you do.  That's just life, and it impacts everyone equally. It is not discrimination. But some people will find an excuse to complain about anything...

TELLIT01

SadieO said:

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

But if you work somewhere that closes for Christmas you'd permanently have one less day of leave than your colleagues?! I don't think I'd be happy with "such is life" if that was me. 

Being happy with the situation isn't the point.  If that is what the employer decrees they are doing nothing illegal.

TBagpuss

SadieO said:

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

But if you work somewhere that closes for Christmas you'd permanently have one less day of leave than your colleagues?! I don't think I'd be happy with "such is life" if that was me. 

Presumably you would have to use one less day of your AL for the Christmas closure though? If people were having to save some leave to cover that period they'd have one day off as their birthday so if the place was closed for a week, they'd onl be using 4 days annual leave whereas everyone else would be using 5. 

SadieO

Oh yes, that is a good point @TBagpuss ! I still think it's a bit of a pointless faff though. Just give everyone an extra day on their leave allowance! 

Spendless

TBagpuss said:

SadieO said:

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

But if you work somewhere that closes for Christmas you'd permanently have one less day of leave than your colleagues?! I don't think I'd be happy with "such is life" if that was me. 

Presumably you would have to use one less day of your AL for the Christmas closure though? If people were having to save some leave to cover that period they'd have one day off as their birthday so if the place was closed for a week, they'd onl be using 4 days annual leave whereas everyone else would be using 5. 

I'm guessing you wouldn't in the case of an employer who only allowed the birthday off and no other day. That's what I pointed out those who have birthday dates  that always fall on a BH (typically Dec 25th, 26th & Jan 1st) would always get one less hol than their colleagues. 

ReadingTim

Spendless said:

TBagpuss said:

SadieO said:

TELLIT01 said:

Spendless said:

jackieblack said:

TELLIT01 said:

The only way to know with certainty is to ask the employer.  It may be a day that can be taken at any time, or it may be that you don't have to work on your birthday.  If the latter it's just tough luck if your birthday happens to be a non-working day.

This ^^^

My daughter’s previous employer gave everyone their birthday off but it had to be taken on the actual birthday and if that fell on a day they weren’t due to work that was bad luck.

That must have been really unfair on the people whose birthday fell say December 25th/ 26th or Jan 1st (assuming they were shut these days). For everyone else you might cop for a weekend or  for some a BH birthday but not every single year  

Such is life.  If everybody can only take the 'birthday holiday' on their actual birthday, there is no discrimination, so nothing the employee can do about it.

But if you work somewhere that closes for Christmas you'd permanently have one less day of leave than your colleagues?! I don't think I'd be happy with "such is life" if that was me. 

Presumably you would have to use one less day of your AL for the Christmas closure though? If people were having to save some leave to cover that period they'd have one day off as their birthday so if the place was closed for a week, they'd onl be using 4 days annual leave whereas everyone else would be using 5. 

I'm guessing you wouldn't in the case of an employer who only allowed the birthday off and no other day. That's what I pointed out those who have birthday dates  that always fall on a BH (typically Dec 25th, 26th & Jan 1st) would always get one less hol than their colleagues. 

And then if Christmas Day or New Year's Day falls on a weekend, everyone gets one less day's holiday.... which is why the bank holiday is then moved to the next following working day, and your birthday day off should be the closest working day to your birthday - see my earlier post where my company's birthday leave policy spells this out nice and clearly.