taking annual leave. Employer changing/making new rules for when we take it.

[worleywinterwonderland]

hello,

i work for the nhs. our manager is now trying to enforce new rules for when we take our annual leave.
they are preposing that we can only take 1 weeks holiday a year during school half term time. And will only be able take 2 weeks between june and september and can only have either a week at christmas or a week at easter, we cannot have time off for both.

we may be able to have more than 1 weeks school holiday time off if nobody else has booked time during those weeks but we cannot try to book it more than 4 weeks ahead of time.

she wants to do this to make it fair for everyone, fair enough but there are only 3 of us with school age children out of around 20 of us. we dont always take the same time off and as we live in two different counties the children have different dates for school holidays. they only let 3 people off at one time.

can they enfoce this now, its not stated in our contracts that we can only take holiday between certain times and can only have 1 weeks holiday with my children a year. if they do this i dont know how im going to cover the school holidays as the childrnes holiday clubs arent suitable fot the hours i work.

thankyou for any comments you might be able to make

[purepurple]

changes to your contract have to be signed by you. These new rules discriminate against parents who need to be able to cover childcare, try your union rep, or your manager's boss. Put it in writing.

[tribpot]

I would speak to the union as well, that sounds well out of order.

[flowerybeanbag]

Agree speak to your union. What does your contract or handbook say about taking holiday?

[DorisIsAPinkDragon]

I would also look at the trust family friendly policies on their website, as from what I remember they are usually keen to trumpet these, it being a largely female work force.

I would also imgine that this is not a trust wide policy and that it is a department issue therefore not approved by HR.....

Research research research

I would also look into why she feels the need to introduce such a policy if there are only three of you?

[worley]

thankyou, will look on intranet on monday.
it just occurred to me that i coud ring our work lives balance team and talk to them about it.

she wants to introduce this as people complain about not all of us getting 2 weeks in the summer, but that is because they will only allow 3 people off at a time. there are certain people who always book holidays every school holiday, even though they do not have school age children but help look after grandchildren or just always want those times off.

thatkyou for your replies though, they are thought provoking and made me think of things to take to a meeting about it.

[RoseParade]

Sorry to hijack, but this is very similar to my problem so thought I'd ask on this thread;
I have worked for the same company for 7 1/2 years and every year I have taken two weeks holiday in September. They are now saying no-one in my area can take holiday in March, June or September (end of quarter, I'm in sales for those of you wondering why they chose those months!). I just wondered if they can suddenly prevent me from taking holiday in September when I have "previous" as it were......

[flowerybeanbag]

Rose when you took holiday last year or the year before isn't relevant, it doesn't give you more entitlement to take the same period off this year.

What's important is what it says in your contract about holiday. Have you had a look?

[worley]

nothing in my contrat and couldnt find anything on our intranet about it today, am going to search out my staff handbook from when i started... may be a while!

[twinklytoes]

worley - doubt you'll find anything tbh. I think you do need to take up with your union and HR.

in my service and across our directorate team members have to book leave across each quarter (more or less) i.e everyone is informed in march (once I've reconciled and agreed any carryover) that they need to book 3 weeks to take before end of sept. this is done on first come first serve basis. the same happens again around june and october. this is so I can ensure annual leave is spread out across the year and that I can still cover the unit and get madatory training done without, hopefully, overtime being used.

our only blanket rule is that the xmas hols are not open for holiday requests (this is generic across whole trust) - what I do do is let them self roster to start with and then I play with the roster and also give everyone at least one extra day off either using annual leave or toil.

[worley]

you'r right twinklytoes, had a good search through the intranet and there is nothing, although i did find another departments annual leave policy and they had nothing about school holidays there, so may bring that to attention.

we all have to work a shift over xmas/new year unless it is sepcifically your year off, this year should be my tuen as i've worked 3 years in a row. as we have to provide emergency cover it is in our contract to work bh etc on a rota.

so my last option is the working life balance team, my union rep should be helpfull but on leave at the moment so will catch her when she comes back, but failing al that i can try to use the parental leave policy to cover the school holiday, although that is unpaid time off.
thankyou