Holiday booked before start of new job

[Melynda.Iris]

Hi,

I recently started a new job (this Monday gone in fact) and am due to go on holiday at the end of this month for 2 and a half weeks. This was something that I have mentioned to my senior manager when she offered me the job and which she said was fine. In this conversation conducted on the telephone where I advised her of this, in the office were 2 other colleagues listening to the conversation. One colleague had passed the phone to me so was aware that it was my current manager speaking.
When I started on Monday, I advised my immediate line manager of the holiday, to which she responded that it was fine and to let her know so she could advise the others. I had a quick meeting with my senior manager today who said that as I had not mentioned it in the interview (they had not asked but again, I did advise them upon the offer of the job), it's not something that she would authorise but she would speak to HR to get advise. More importantly, she flatly denied that I had told her of the holiday previously. It's a holiday that I need to take as it might be the last time I see my grandfather, my parents have paid for both my husband and I to go and it is half way around the world.

Do I have a leg to stand on? Any help or advise would be much appreciated.

[buildersmate]

I appreciate your concern - having just started a new job and feeling your way with the new organisation - you want to be doing the 'right' things.
Perhaps see how HR respond, then ask to see HR directly. I imagine you are going to be able to demonstrate pretty obviously that you had booked this holiday yonks ago before accepting the job, so the senior mgr must unfortunately have forgotten, since you are very clear that you were upfront about it at interview.

[Melynda.Iris]

Thank you - I will speak with HR tomorrow. They have quite a large HR department as it's a national public organisation and the UK's biggest employer.
Also, I forgot to mention that I spoke with my colleagues about any holiday during the period that I have booked and no-one is on holiday at the same time so it is not a matter of cover.

[Spcl22]

As with any Recruitment process, interview notes should have been taken by the Interviewer.

If they are saying that you didnt say anything about your hoiday, you can always ask those to be checked to see if they have a note of it.

If they refuse, that in itself is not right as you have a right to see ANY records that are kept about you (refer to data protection laws) and this should include all interview notes.