Does an employer have to honour booked holidays if you mentioned it at interview?

traveladdict98 · 12 June 2017 at 2:27PM

Hello,

I've recently been offered a new job & accepted starting 11th July.

In my interview I was asked if I had any upcoming holidays in which I replied 2 weeks in Aug and 1 week in Sept

I have accepted the offer of the job, and before hand I sent this email and I've pasted the response too:

Me: I do have one question I would just like to clarify before handing my notice in.

In the interview, I was asked about any upcoming holidays which I replied to that I have a 2 week holiday booked in Aug and 1 week in Sept.

Really, I just wanted to double check this would be ok as I realised that I will be only with **** for 3 weeks before the holiday. The dates are 31st July to 14th Aug as if it were to be a problem I am happy to start after my holiday in Aug.

If you could just confirm if this would be an issue or not that would be great.

Then here is the reply

Hi Fern

I have spoken with *** and he advised that his preference would be for you to start on the agreed date.

He has advised that on starting you will be entitled to 16 days paid leave in the 2017/18 cycle if we retain the agreed start date (our annual leave period is from 1st March to the 28th February). If your booked holidays exceed this then some days may have to be taken unpaid which we are happy to accommodate.

Am I just overthinking all of this or am I correct??

It just seems so unlikely a company is going to let me take all that annual leave 3 weeks into a new job please someone offer me advise who works in the field as I'm not sure if I can even refuse the job now due to signing the contract and may not be able to retract handing my notice in, I'm really worried as this is thousands of pound of financial loss if they turn around and say no to the holidays...help?

Oakdene · 12 June 2017 at 2:30PM

You have asked a question & they have answered it really. The only thing you have to consider is that you will have 1 days leave between the end of your September leave & February, so if your employer closes down over the festive period you may have to take unpaid leave.

Undervalued · 12 June 2017 at 2:32PM

Does an employer have to honour booked holidays if you mentioned it at interview?

Yes, providing it was part of the agreement of you accepting the job.

However, keep in mind they don't have to continue to employ you!

steampowered · 12 June 2017 at 2:36PM

I can't see a problem as you have been completely up front about it. It would be worth just gently reminding your boss about your holiday when you start.

comeandgo · 12 June 2017 at 2:47PM

I think you have handled this well. You asked about holidays and they have agreed to give them to you, some days may be unpaid but you may have unused holidays in your last job and the money for those will help against any unpaid holidays.
If you were to leave before the end of Feb then you may have to reimburse the company as you will have taken too many days holidays.

FBaby · 12 June 2017 at 4:17PM

It's no big deal. They don't care if you take almost all your holiday earlier on in employment, it just means you won't have much left to take for the rest of their financial year, which might actually suit them.

If you were to leave/be dismissed early and they overpaid you, they would just deduct it from your last pay.

TyreLever · 12 June 2017 at 4:18PM

The job I am in now I was there for only 1 week before taking 2 weeks off. This 2 week period also happened to fall on a period the employer was not approving any holidays. The course I had booked months in advance and cost me quite a bit and therefore unavoidable. I just had to show proof of this for the time off to be honoured. Obviously it was taken unpaid but it was a relief knowing I had a job to come back to.

TELLIT01 · 12 June 2017 at 4:28PM

I don't think you have anything to worry about regarding being allowed to take the holiday you have already booked. The company has said they will honour them, but part of the time off may have to be unpaid.

PossiblyOverworked · 12 June 2017 at 4:37PM

If you are happy to take it unpaid (since you won't have accrued that holiday) it seems like they are happy to accommodate that - did you have any feeling from the interview when you discussed it that it might be "problematic" in some way?

To be honest as a new starter you normally wouldn't be "business critical" in those first few weeks (as you have to get trained up etc) depending on the job of course. If you were being recruited directly into a 'crisis' situation as Interim Head Of... etc it might be a different matter!

But in answer to your direct question in the title... an employer doesn't have to honour booked holiday as long as they give the required amount of notice to cancel it (assuming it was previously approved) but if your acceptance was contingent on that it would be really bad form. But in your case it sounds like they really do want *you* specifically so good luck! :-) (meant non-sarcastically i.e. good luck with your new job!)

jobbingmusician · 12 June 2017 at 7:51PM

I don't see the problem. It looks as if they are happy for you to go on holiday, to use your holiday allowance for the year in advance (quite generous - of course they would recoup the relevant amount if you did leave before the end of Feb) and to take unpaid leave for the balance. Looks as if they are behaving totally fairly!

DCFC79 · 12 June 2017 at 8:22PM

You did everything right and you were told it was acceptable.

Does an employer have to honour booked holidays if you mentioned it at interview?

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