Staff Given Extra Day's Annual Leave if they attended Xmas Party

xxandyxexx

Hi All, 

I am looking for some advice. 

The company I work for had their Christmas party/outing last night. I was unable to attend due to already having plans in place for that evening way before the company Christmas party/outing was arranged. 

This morning I have learnt that all staff who attended the Christmas party/outing last night have been given today off as an extra day's annual leave. Whereas staff who were unable to attend, like myself, have to work. 

I voiced my concern about this to the office manager and was told because I didn't go, I don't get today off (an extra day's annual leave) . 

Is this correct and acceptable? I feel like it is unfair and that I've been treated differently to the other employees.  

MorningcoffeeIV

xxandyxexx said:

Is this correct and acceptable? 

Assuming you heard this from an official source then yes, presumably it's correct. But your HR dept will be able to confirm.

As for acceptable  - nothing wrong with it legally.  A bit odd, but oddness isn't an offence. 

LightFlare

As long as being treated differently isn’t as a result of you (or others) having a protected characteristic- then it’s legal.

prettyandfluffy

We used to have to work only the morning of the last working day before Christmas but were paid for a full day, if you wanted to take the morning off you had to use a full day's annual leave.

Undervalued

As others have said, perfectly lawful unless they were, say, treating the boys differently to the girls or the Catholics differently to the Protestants (etc)! 

MattMattMattUK

Perfectly acceptable, I really cannot see why you think it would not be legal. 

amanda1024

I can imagine you could potentially argue that this discriminates against those with childcare/caring responsibilities, so it might be worth flagging that to HR

lincroft1710

amanda1024 said:

I can imagine you could potentially argue that this discriminates against those with childcare/caring responsibilities, so it might be worth flagging that to HR

Having child caring or any other caring responsibilities is not a protected characteristic

la531983

amanda1024 said:

I can imagine you could potentially argue that this discriminates against those with childcare/caring responsibilities, so it might be worth flagging that to HR

Is having children/not having children a protected characteristic?

Also, he/she never said the reason he/she was not attending the party was due to childcare commitments.

DullGreyGuy

xxandyxexx said:

Is this correct and acceptable? I feel like it is unfair and that I've been treated differently to the other employees.  

You are different to the other employees, you decided to prioritise whatever it was you had pre-arranged. Undoubtably some will have made the other choice and some will have had a free night that evening anyway. 

As others have said, they cannot differentiate on protected characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity but are perfectly free to reward those that attend team building things and not share those rewards with those that decide not to. 


Not personally seen something go that far before but certainly have seen people asleep at/under their desk still in their tux/gown (office open 24/7 so clearly some decided not to go home) well past the start of their shift and their boss saying to let them sleep it off rather than wake them up and get them working. Clearly on any other day those late in would be having to explain their actions. 

Marcon

xxandyxexx said:

Hi All, 

I am looking for some advice. 

The company I work for had their Christmas party/outing last night. I was unable to attend due to already having plans in place for that evening way before the company Christmas party/outing was arranged. 

This morning I have learnt that all staff who attended the Christmas party/outing last night have been given today off as an extra day's annual leave. Whereas staff who were unable to attend, like myself, have to work. 

I voiced my concern about this to the office manager and was told because I didn't go, I don't get today off (an extra day's annual leave) . 

Is this correct and acceptable? I feel like it is unfair and that I've been treated differently to the other employees.  

Correct - if that's the company policy, then nothing unlawful about it.
Acceptable - probably appeals more to the employees who went to the party than those who didn't!
Unfair - I can see why it might feel that way, but maybe the employer saw it as a team bonding exercise and is reinforcing that message.

You've said in your post that 'staff who were unable to attend, like myself, have to work' so you've not been treated differently to any of the non-attendees at the party.