RE: Refused Holiday request - already booked

Hoenir

As was said earlier in the thread. Can be a small world.  Never know when your path will cross with somebody you know from the past in a work environment over the years.  The saying "you've made your bed, now lie in it" springs to mind. 

Spendless

What I don't understand is why when you decided to amend your hol you didnt just reduce the days youd initially booked that had been reluctantly authorised.
Eg youre off from 1st - 14th Aug, you reduce them to 1st -10th and then cancel the 11th - 14th ones telling supervisor you can now work those days, not book different ones without running it past supervisor first.

Altior

My strong hunch is that it's not a full and frank account, sorry OP ! The logic doesn't stand up.

Jude57

PierremontQuaker03 said:

Hi everyone thanks for your comments, I have got a meeting with HR this afternoon - I know which way it is going to go but I have to at least try. You live by the sword and you die by the sword, I just want to see what HR say if I go on holiday without approval - obviously if its a disciplinary or sackable offence (I assume its one or both) - then I will obviously hand in my notice today - I also have the option of going off on the sick in August for a few weeks  

If I'm understanding the situation correctly, you're going to HR to complain that you haven't been given approval for annual leave you had already booked, then changed the dates and again hadn't sought approval first. And if HR don't overrule your line manager (which they may well not do, staffing levels being a line manager's responsibility) you plan to potentially just take a few weeks off 'sick' over the period of your planned holiday abroad? Don't you think that your line manager and HR will put two and two together? If you follow that course, expect a finding of gross misconduct and immediate dismissal due to the breakdown of the relationship between employer and employee because they can't trust you to follow correct procedures, nor can they trust you not to lie to get your own way. I've dismissed a team member who refused to attend mandatory training because, she claimed she had been there so long, she knew everything. She didn't and wasn't a star in any way. Her mistake was to say, openly in a minuted team meeting that, if forced to go, she'd take the day off sick. Which she did. I dismissed her with no hesitation and that ended her 20+ year career in that sector. The Union Rep for the employee simply shook his head after I told him what had happened and said "entirely her own doing". And yes, it was recorded in references requested by potential employers.

You clearly don't need to work if you can blithely just quit with nothing else lined up (you wono get Universal Credit for, I think, 26 weeks if you quit voluntarily) and certainly, a reference can set out the circumstances surrounding your departure from the company, so long as what is stated is true and not deliberately intended to deceive.

LeafGreen

It seems a bit drastic to resign over this, unless you have another job to go to.  It reminds me of a saying my dear mum used to use a lot - cutting off your nose to spite your face.  How huge is fee to rebook the holiday?  It might be an expensive route to take but have you considered it?  If it's less than, say, 1 months salary, might you be better off in the long run, as opposed to having to find another job with a potential break in income if you don't start immediately after your holiday? 

I know that would involve you backing down / losing the argument, and that would be annoying and expensive, but I think it's at least worth considering the bigger picture, if no compromise can be arrived at.

lincroft1710

PierremontQuaker03 said:

Hi everyone thanks for your comments, I have got a meeting with HR this afternoon - I know which way it is going to go but I have to at least try. You live by the sword and you die by the sword, I just want to see what HR say if I go on holiday without approval - obviously if its a disciplinary or sackable offence (I assume its one or both) - then I will obviously hand in my notice today - I also have the option of going off on the sick in August for a few weeks  

If you have the slightest intention of doing this you might as well hand in your notice now

Tabieth

You seem entitled and a troublemaker. I suspect they’ll be glad to see you go. 

TELLIT01

If the employer doesn't believe the period of sickness to be genuine they can refuse to pay Company Sick Pay.  They can also refuse to pay SSP on the same basis.

saajan_12

PierremontQuaker03 said:

Hi thanks for looking. I recently booked a holiday for a week in August, my boss was unhappy but approved them (she was unhappy due to lack of cover in the dept - its never been an issue before, but she is fairly new). So I thought I was being helpful and amended the dates in August and changed the booking and paid for the holiday so there would be fewer dates with no coverage (again its never been an issue). She now has point blank refused to approve the holidays and now I cannot change the dates, unless for a huge fee.
I was thinking of leaving before this, but now it has brought it to a head.  I am not going to cancel the holiday, so I am tempted to now hand in my notice - its at a point where she will not back down, so I think leaving is my only option. Just wonder if anyone has any advice before I go in all guns blazing with my notice. I do have to give 3 months notice - which will include the week that I am going away.  At the end of the day they cannot force me to come in, but would prefer to leave on good terms.

PierremontQuaker03 said:

Hoenir said:

No one is indispensable.  Someone else will be recruited to fulfill your role. 

I agree no one is indispensable, but I have a lot of knowledge, 6 years - its quite a complicated job, and will take the new person a few years to get the full knowledge I have.  My boss agreed the original dates, is the issue, I changed them which meant it was better for the company, so I was doing them a favour - so she is just being petty. But if she wants to die on that hill so be it. Also she is a director, we have two directors on site, both were on holiday at the same time last year and they were planning to be off at the same time again this year but a family ilness meant that it is not going to happen. One rule for one and one rule for another.

This doesn't make sense.. if they wanted to be petty, then why not refuse the original dates which had worse coverage according to you? Perhaps the new dates really aren't better for them because they've shuffled things around upon approving your first request. After all its not for you to decide what is better for them, and that explains why the difference in reaction to the initial and final dates requested. 

Hoenir

Walking on the thin ice of Gross Misconduct and instant dimissal. Serious insubordination could potentially be cited.