Advice welcome

[johnboy1974]

Holiday entitlement is as per contract or government minimum. As for taking holidays you must inform employer with the same amount of days notice as you intend to take off. ie one weeks notice if you want a weeks holiday is the minimum requirement. Also employer does not have to grant it and if he wanted could have you take all your holiday entitlement in single days off if he wanted.

[johnboy1974]

Might seem a dumb question, so apologies in advance for asking.

I used to find that some employees had the notion that their self-certified sickness limits formed part of their holiday allowance.

You haven't strayed into that area have you?

This cant be done unless the employee requests so or if the employee has been off sick long term and there is a chance they could lose there annual holiday entitlement due to that sickness. Any holidays pre arranged are null and void if you are off work sick and you must take them when you return to work.

[thered]

i think basic holidays run at 20 days a year plus bank holidays

from what i can remember it is up to your managements discression how you use them

strictly speaking a manager can refuse your holidays if he hasnt got cover


we used to operate a system that only allowed 3 off at a time which made it a major headache to get time off and some people did abuse the system by putting in single days like lots of fridays or lots of mondays which had a knock on effect

some firms are great with holidays but there is nothing set in stone if your company is a cnut and need you too work at certain times due to staffing problems they are within there rights legally to withhold or refuse your request until a more suitable time

[happy_highlander]

Holiday entitlement is as per contract or government minimum. As for taking holidays you must inform employer with the same amount of days notice as you intend to take off. ie one weeks notice if you want a weeks holiday is the minimum requirement. Also employer does not have to grant it and if he wanted could have you take all your holiday entitlement in single days off if he wanted.

Your not quite right there m8 but almost, the legal requirement for holidays is that you need to give your employer twice as much notice a you require off i.e. 2 weeks notice for 1 week off, now here is the catch.....If your employer wants to refuse you the time off they must tell you that you have been refused the same amount of time as you require of before your holiday is due to start i.e. 1 week before the start date of a 1 week holiday.Now this can work against you for obvious reasons so make sure to ask for confirmation within a specified time limit when you submit your holiday request, you are well within your rights to do so to ensure all members of staff are aware what holiday dates are available and it is in your employers best interest as it stops conflicting requests. The employers time limit can also work in your favour if your employer is a bury their head in the sand type ignoring everything that doesn't suit them as your holiday request must be honoured if you have not been refused within the legal time span. I have won a tribunal on this matter for myself and represented other employees against the same boss

[Bulld0g]

This may clarifythings for you m8

Working Hours, Rest Breaks and Holiday Entitlements - Working Time Directive - and Bank Holidays - Getting a Job advice from Freelance Advisor


Paid Holidays Under the Working Time Directive Legislation:

The Working Time Regulations also entitle all Workers and Employees to a legal minimum of 28 days paid leave each year (5.6 weeks ***8211; pro rata***8217;d if you are part-time).

Things you need to know:

Your Employer has no legal obligation to ensure you have taken your statutory holiday entitlement, although they can service you a notice to require you to take holiday on specified dates.

You start building up your holiday entitlement as soon as you start work.

You need to tell your employer when you want your leave but they can control when you take it (i.e. agree or disagree to the dates you want).

Your Employer should specify the notice periods they require you to give, before you take leave, in writing. If this is not specified you must give at least twice the length of the intended leave period you wish to take ***8211; e.g. you give 2 days notice to take 1 days leave. Your Employer should reply (agree or disagree) within the same length of time as your intended leave ***8211; e.g. you want 1 days leave, give them 2 days notice and they should reply within 1 day.

Your Employer may restrict you taking leave through the following ***8211; by your employment contract, via custom or practice or by negotiations with a Trade Union or Employee Representative. They can restrict your leave because: they shut down at certain times; they can specify when you may or may not take your leave; they may cap the amount of leave that you can take at any one time. If such arrangements don***8217;t already exist then your Employer must give you notice to require you to take your leave ***8211; of twice the length of the leave period they require you to take, e.g. they need to give you 2 weeks notice to require you to take 1 weeks leave.

Holiday entitlement cannot be counted as weekly rest days, it is completely separate.

If you are an Agency Temp then the Agency that employs you (not the Employer you are working for) is responsible for ensuring you receive your statutory minimum holiday entitlement. See our new Guide to the Agency Workers Regulations which come into effect on 1st October 2011 and give ***8216;agency workers***8217; the right to equal treatment with permanent employees.

You should get paid for untaken holiday if you leave your Employer (but you have no legal entitlement to be paid if you cannot or choose not to take them all ***8211; unless you have been off sick, see below). For each week of holiday that you are owed you are entitled to a week***8217;s pay ***8211; see our new Guide to the Working Time Directive for details of what a week***8217;s pay means.

Bank and Public holidays can be included in these 28 days; at the moment there is no statutory right to take bank holidays off. Therefore if you take a day off as paid leave on a bank holiday it may count as one of your annual leave days under WTD legislation ***8211; depending on what your employment contract says. (For more information on Bank Holidays see below).

Your employer may give you more leave than 28 days as part of your contract.

There is no legal obligation that the first 20 days holiday entitlement, if unused, should be carried forward into the next leave year, unless you have been off sick (see below). The additional 8 days holiday entitlement can be carried over into the next holiday leave year, if unused, with your Employers agreement. Your Employer may choose to allow more than 8 days to be carried over though.

The Government increased the minimum statutory holiday entitlement to 24 days per year from 1st October 2007, and to 28 days per year from 1st April 2009 for those working 5 days per week.