Christmas leave priority

I’m in a meeting next week to finalise the annual Christmas leave for my team and others. Ages or having children isn’t a factor. It will be decided as fairly as possible. The reality is, there will be more requests than available days off as we need cover. I’ll need to look at what we can reasonably afford, skill sets, who had time last year, who had time off declined last year, any “special “ requests and go from there. Not everyone will get what they want.

That does not automatically lead to it being the responsibility of anyone else to step up and work it.

Personally I think the rules seem fair enough for parents. I think those with children should be prioritised and those with young children should be top priority. This is just basic decency in that most adults without children can celebrate Christmas more flexibly. We had quite a few years in our family where there were no children and Christmas morning wasn't such a thing and we could schedule Christmas get togethers whenever suited people. I also have such strong memories of Christmas as a child that I would hate to take that away from another child.

I don't think grandparents should be prioritised though and I think there obviously should be a cut off for kids so that a parent with a 25 year old child isn't given priority.

Right
But would you like to work every xmas for say 40 years because you dont have kids ?
I used to work with a nurse who didnt have children who worked on the same ward for over 30 years by your reasoning she would never get a xmas off becsuse theres always going to fellow employees who have small children

Pregnancy and maternity is a protected characteristic.

Not having children is not.

Well there are often two parents and most won’t both work Christmas Day, so one will have to look after the kids. If you’re a solo parent with zero other options then you raise that with your line manager as a special case.

In this day and age there are more and more child free people and people having smaller families. It's very unlikely that you will be the only person without young children for every Christmas over four decades. Most teams are too big for this to be a risk or if they're smaller then it's highly unlikely statistically that all your colleagues will always have children and be prioritised.

Im guessing you yourself have never had to work xmas day?

100% this ! I'd would be absolutely fuming.

@putmeonthebackburner

Dies the person who made the list have children is a grandparent?

Do non child having people get priority at new year?

No it should never be first come first served as you will have CF putting it in years in advance. We are told when to request and then they have a look and see if we have enough cover. How much leave are you trying to request? We also only get the bank hols but everyone in our team has been reasonable so we all get a bit of time off. Think yourself lucky that you don't have to work the bank hols, plus you get Monday.

I have worked a Christmas Day actually when I was young and child free. I worked in a restaurant and I enjoyed it. Bonus was that I got paid extra and celebrated with all my family in the evening and over Boxing Day. It wasn't a big deal

I have two under 7s, do have to work Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, and think this criteria is awful. I work with some childfree people with elderly parents or whose family live a distance away that would never be able to spend Christmas with them if my work followed this horrible priority list. Thankfully my work seems to value employees equally! That means sometimes I will have to work Christmas Day. That’s the line of work I chose, I had kids knowing this, it’s my responsibility to sort it, not someone else’s.

exactly - loads of people live far from family! id be screwed of this happened me as i have to get a flight to see my family.

luckily my office just closes for Christmas from xmas eve until after new year - no issues ever booking annual leave earlier though

id be complaing as its discriminatory - people with kids shouldn't get special preference

I've not assumed anything, OP says she gets bank holidays off, so that is the 25th and 28th, then she says she will be seeing her family on boxing day, so she must have that off as well without any leave taken.. that isn't that bad compared to some people, yourself included.

Is that a protected characteristic?

Because huge areas of the site are about non-parenting topics.

Do you not finish early Christmas Eve and could drive up after work? Then no work until Tuesday.

Also @putmeonthebackburner

Have you asked if this policy applies to all religions holidays and what is the criteria for leave for those

So you worked one xmas day and it wasent a big deal 🙄
I have worked many xmas days
both pre kids and as a parent its never fair to expect those without children to work giving priority to those with childden
There would have bern carnage if this was suggeated when i was a nurse and there would have been a lot of people going off sick if they had tried to enforce it.

What protected characteristic is being discriminated against?

Children under 7, maybe, but they work New Year.

Grandchildren? No. I'm a granny, but no.

Other than that, rotation.

Not this again.