Very quick qu regarding paid holiday

Lavendyr

Due to personal reasons I have a need to take a day's holiday this week. I only found out the need for this at the weekend but since the guidelines say you need to give twice as long as the length of the holiday, I assumed that two days' notice for one day's holiday would be sufficient.

I asked my employer first thing about the possibility explaining that it was a personal situation and I really needed to take a day off to resolve it. I even offered to take it unpaid - I don't care about that, I just need to take the day off. The employer asked me why I needed to take the day off. I said I would rather not say but asked them to trust that it was important and I would not ask for it otherwise at such short notice. The response from the employer was, more or less, "I'm prepared to accommodate/support you *if* you tell me what it's about".

I just want to understand my rights and I am sure that someone on this board can help. Do I have to tell my employer why I want the time off? Can they legally refuse me holiday on the grounds that I didn't say why I wanted to take the time off? It's just not something I want to discuss with the employer at all, it's too personal for that. Advice would be very welcome, thank you in advance.

Conor_3

You don't have to tell them why but don't expect them to be understanding about it. At the end of the day, you could have just taken a sickie and dropped them in it but you haven't which should count in your favour.

At the end of the day it's a job and not a prison sentence so they really can't stop you.

Mark7799

Maybe it's something that's going to cause them a problem (perhaps they'll try and run with one staff member less if the reason is important enough) but your boss is going to try and help. Sometimes you need a bit of give and take.

I don't know your company rules but it may be that only x amount of staff are able to be away at any time and x are already away - you would make it x+1 but your boss will try and help if they think you've got a good reason.

annie-c

Agree with the advice above. Bottom line is, your boss is going to be held accountable if problems arise and so he/she needs to be able to give an account if necessary. Your 'rights' are set out in your terms and conditiions but this sounds like something where the way you handle it will be very important and it would prob be best not to go in all guns blazing on rights.

Equally though, I wouldn't have thought that there was need to go into heaps of detail - s/he just needs an explanation that holds water... a family crisis, unexpected urgent medical appointment may do the trick?

How did you leave it with him/her?

Lavendyr

Thanks all, it's as I thought. I managed to arrange not to take time off in the end and to arrange the situation to a better time so all is sorted now.

Savvy_Sue

I suppose they might be asking to see if you're wanting time off for interviews! However, when I was managing staff I would not have pushed the issue: if one of my team said "I need a day off" then I'd trust them, and the rest of the team would generally pull together and accommodate it. I don't see how it helps keep staff happy if you give them the 3rd degree when they say they need a day off!

In fact a key colleague is on compassionate leave this week: she phoned on Monday am and said she would not be in, and phoned again in the afternoon to say she didn't think she'd be in today either. She had said what was wrong, and I just said "We are not expecting to see you this week, please don't feel you have to phone again until the end of the week, and this is compassionate leave." We miss her badly, but with someone she loves in intensive care, how would it help to pressurise her to be at her desk?

maninthestreet

Lavendyr wrote: »

Due to personal reasons I have a need to take a day's holiday this week. I only found out the need for this at the weekend but since the guidelines say you need to give twice as long as the length of the holiday, I assumed that two days' notice for one day's holiday would be sufficient.

I asked my employer first thing about the possibility explaining that it was a personal situation and I really needed to take a day off to resolve it. I even offered to take it unpaid - I don't care about that, I just need to take the day off. The employer asked me why I needed to take the day off. I said I would rather not say but asked them to trust that it was important and I would not ask for it otherwise at such short notice. The response from the employer was, more or less, "I'm prepared to accommodate/support you *if* you tell me what it's about".

I just want to understand my rights and I am sure that someone on this board can help. Do I have to tell my employer why I want the time off? Can they legally refuse me holiday on the grounds that I didn't say why I wanted to take the time off? It's just not something I want to discuss with the employer at all, it's too personal for that. Advice would be very welcome, thank you in advance.

Are you male or female? If the latter, and your boss is male, such a question
could be deemed as sexual harrassment.

mountainofdebt

maninthestreet wrote: »

Are you male or female? If the latter, and your boss is male, such a question
could be deemed as sexual harrassment.

Surely that's sexist in itself!