Any employment lawyers out there?

[flip-flop]

My employer has advised that we are no longer allowed to take the odd day off as holiday and instead must take our holiday in week long blocks.

This can't possibly be legal, can it? Holiday is a statutory right, not a perk or a privilege, and therefore how we take it is our perogative, surely?

If legal, and if it is enforced, I can see a sharp upswing in sickies in the firm I work for!

[Lonnie]

I'm not an 'employment lawyer', but what does it say in your contract, its the contract thats legally binding. At my firm, as in most, holidays are given in blocks of one or two weeks, but as a privelidge, we are at times, allowed to take the odd day from a block, but they don't have to, and at times don't allow it, I would say check your contract, If its there that you can take the odd day, then the only way to stop it, is to change the contract, if it not, then you'll have to put up with it.

[Buenchico]

The law simply entitles you to 20 days paid holiday per year. (That assumes that you work a 5-day week. The figure is actually 4 times the number of days worked each week).

Unless your contract states otherwise, the employer is free (subject to providing sufficient notice) to determine not only the format the holidays are taken in (e.g. single days or week-long blocks) but exactly when they're taken. So your employer can not only state that your holiday must be taken in week-long blocks but also exactly which weeks to take them in. (Although industrial output in the UK is much lower than it used to be, there are still plenty of firms which simply close for the equivalent of the old 'wakes weeks'. That's when the factory is closed, so that's when the employees get their holidays - with no choice whatsoever).

Chris

[Sasha13]

As an HR Manager, I can confirm that Buenchico is correct!