Employment Law

[Angela1970]

I have an employee who has been refused a week's leave due to resourcing levels, he's told me that as long as he gives me 2 weeks notice of his intention to take leave he will be procteced by employment law. Can anyone verify this for me

[Miss Zippy]

Your employee is trying it on; it is entirely at the employer's discretion when employees take their annual leave. It is entirely reasonable for you to refuse a request for holiday if it will leave you short staffed. If you haven't already and if staffing levels are a particular problem to you, it might be worth adding a clause to your contract of employment stating that employees must submit requests for holiday at least, say, four weeks before the anticipated date.

[Loosehead]

Yes Miss Zippy is correct. He may well believe that he has this right but he hasn't. Ask him to show you the extract of the employment law and then stand back and watch him squirm.

[Ethel]

You are on a very sticky wicket. Your employee is correct if he wishes to take a week's holiday



What notice must be given before you take holiday

If you have not got an agreement with your employer about how much notice you have to give before you can take holiday the following rules apply:-

* Your employer can make you take all or any of your holiday at a particular time, as long as they give you notice. This notice must be at least twice as long as the holiday they want you to take. For example, if your employer wants to have a Christmas shutdown for one week, they have to give you notice of the date the holiday is to start at least two weeks before it starts.
* You must give notice to your employer when you want to take holiday. This notice must be at least twice as long as the holiday you want to take. For example, if you want to take three days� leave, you must give your employer notice of this at least six days before your holiday is due to start.

Your employer can refuse to let you take holiday. To do this they must give you notice equal to the holiday you want to take. So if you have asked to take two weeks� holiday and have told your employer four weeks before the date you want your holiday to start, your employer must tell you two weeks before your holiday is due to start that you cannot take the holiday.

If your employer is refusing to let you take holiday at a particular time, you should seek the advice of an experienced adviser as soon as possible....

[THECORBYLOON]

FROM THE ACAS WEBSITE

"Any clash of requested holiday dates may be resolved by management - for example, by considering the particular circumstances of the individuals concerned as well as the needs of the business or by other means such as drawing lots or agreeing 'first come, first served'.

In the absence of an agreement on the taking of leave, the provisions of the Working Time Regulations 1998 apply:

an employer can require a worker to take all or any of the leave to which a worker is entitled at specific times, provided that the worker is given prior notice. The notice period should be at least twice the period of leave to be taken. For example, employers wishing to have a Christmas shut down spanning one week would have to give at least two weeks' notice to their workers."

You are well within yir rights to refuse as long as the correct notice is given so I'm not sure why Ethel thinks you're on a sticky wicket.

For advice, gie ACAS a ring on 08457 47 47 47