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Original poster

Employer won't allow annual leave for holiday

95 replies

Cvcvbvnhgbhgcftf12 · 22/05/2019 19:34

Hi all,

We've booked a few weeks abroad, I work for a local council and they're fine with this. My partner on the other hand works for a big university near Manchester and they've only allowed one of the two weeks as leave. It now looks like we're going to have to cancel our holiday. My partner overheard the same senior manager refusing a colleagues leave request to look after their kids saying and I quote "I don't give a shit about your childcare issues". Is this legal to grant only half your leave request when they know that this will mean you'll have to cancel your hol. I feel bad also for my partners colleague, surely you should be allowed leave to look after a dependent? Any thoughts will be useful

OP posts:
EL8888 · 22/05/2019 20:45

It’s first come, first served where l work. So it’s tough if it’s a popular week and other people got there first you won’t get it. Why was the holiday booked before the leave was approved?

Oct18mummy · 22/05/2019 20:46

You should get holiday approved before booking.

FixTheBone · 22/05/2019 20:46

Try working as a junior doctor in the NHS - I know people who have had to cancel or move weddings because they've been denied leave.

As others have said, your partner's employer will have a policy which will state a notice period required for requests and that it will be discretionary depending on staffing requirements and availability.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Employment advice
Runkle · 22/05/2019 20:49

Yes it's illegal, call the work police...Confused
D'oh should've booked the leave first and acquired some common sense.

Nameusernameuser · 22/05/2019 20:54

A pharmacist who locumed for us had booked 2 weeks holiday. They approved every other day of it so he couldn't take it off. So it does happen!

TheRedBarrows · 22/05/2019 20:55

Have him come for one week.
Unless you are able to rebook for when you can both get 2 weeks.

SauvignonBlanche · 22/05/2019 20:58

I had to turn down someone’s request for their wedding once.
They put the request in after booking the wedding and a colleague who’d already booked it wouldn’t swap.

icelollycraving · 22/05/2019 20:59

It is very common practice to book annual leave before securing a holiday. I hate it when people don’t follow this very basic instruction in my team. Then there’s the attempts at guilt tripping if it’s refused.
First come, first served for me unless it’s a black out period. Anything over the max 2 weeks has to be approved by head of division and HR.
At least you’ve only lost a deposit I assume?

Raindrops81 · 22/05/2019 21:01

Why on earth would you book a holiday without having leave approved??

This!

bluestripedtop · 22/05/2019 21:01

I know the rules, but it can be hard to follow them. You book two weeks off then can't get flights on the day you want.

You find a holiday at the weekend, apply online on Saturday don't get a response until Wednesday.

You try working around colleagues so you don't clash and cause problems, text them on Saturday, no response by Monday. They say they didn't get the text until Monday. Holiday price increased it hotel gone by Monday evening.

I think as long as you aren't clashing with people who can cover or you cover then employers should understand.

I try to be fair but it should work both ways.

StCharlotte · 22/05/2019 21:04

Also you say "a few weeks"? Assuming more than two, many places don't allow more than two weeks at a time - could this be the issue?

CruellaFeinberg · 22/05/2019 21:08

My partner overheard the same senior manager refusing a colleagues leave request to look after their kids saying and I quote "I don't give a shit about your childcare issues". Is this legal to grant only half your leave request when they know that this will mean you'll have to cancel your hol. I feel bad also for my partners colleague, surely you should be allowed leave to look after a dependent?

You are allowed to have time off for emergencies
www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants

Your rights
As an employee you’re allowed time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant.
A dependant could be a spouse, partner, child, grandchild, parent, or someone who depends on you for care.
How much you get
You’re allowed a reasonable amount of time off to deal with the emergency, but there’s no set amount of time as it depends on the situation.
Pay
Your employer may pay you for time off to look after dependants but they don’t have to. Check your contract, company handbook or intranet site to see if there are rules about this

Exceptions
You can’t have time off if you knew about a situation beforehand. For example you wouldn’t be covered if you wanted to take your child to hospital for an appointment. You might get parental leave instead.

PeoniesarePink · 22/05/2019 21:09

Did you book it for term time OP? No wonder it wasn't authorised.

Dippypippy1980 · 22/05/2019 21:10

Why didn’t he check before he booked? Common practice, professional and good manners.

babysharkah · 22/05/2019 21:13

You book your leave, then the holiday. Why would you do it the other way around?

Adversecamber22 · 22/05/2019 21:14

If he works in higher education depending on his role there may be many weeks or months where he will never be allowed to book even one day off. He should know this.

BlackPrism · 22/05/2019 21:20

Tbf you book off annual leave before you book the holiday otherwise youre just looking for problems.

@Oblomov19 Young people are young, not thick. It's common sense

Marmablade · 22/05/2019 21:37

If he's feeling brave he could go on the annual leave week then be 'off sick' with a virus caught on the holiday. I went to Egypt for 10 days and was genuinely poorly for 9 of those plus 3 when I got home. Then I had long term stomach problems as a result.

Fantasisa · 22/05/2019 21:56

This is one of my absolute bug bears of managing a team - there is ALWAYS someone who thinks the rules don’t apply to them and does what they please. Then they want to cast you as the villain if you refuse.

SpaceCadet4000 · 22/05/2019 22:20

Arggggh, an entirely preventable situation. It drives me spare when people do this at work

And the situation with the colleague and the kids, whilst the language choice is poor, isn't necessarily indicative of any issues. Businesses aren't charities: if they need staff cover, they need staff cover and having kids doesn't give anyone free rein on taking leave at peak times.

BuzzShitbagBobbly · 22/05/2019 23:10

Blimey, not sure I've ever seen a completely unanimous thread before. Kinda wish it had been in AIBU!

cheesenpickles · 22/05/2019 23:39

Out of curiosity, we often book our holidays over a year in advance to spread the cost etc but dh's work won't approve holiday until 4 weeks beforehand. Thankfully not had any issues but even booking a holiday that close drives up the price etc.

Redglitter · 22/05/2019 23:53

Is this legal to grant only half your leave request when they know that this will mean you'll have to cancel your hol

Ofcourse it's legal. As pp have said you dont book holidays til your leave is approved. It would be chaos if everyone took whatever they felt like

PollyShelby · 23/05/2019 00:00

In future get the dates off then book.

AlexaShutUp · 23/05/2019 00:20

As a manager, I've had quite a few leave requests over the years from staff who had already booked their holidays, despite very clear guidance to get requests approved before booking. I do try to accommodate wherever possible, but I won't be held to ransom by someone who can't be bothered to follow the correct procedure.

On one occasion, an employee demanded that I rescind my approval for another member of staff to be on leave so that she could go on holiday instead - I couldn't accommodate both of them being off at once. I pointed out that the other employee had requested the leave and had it approved several months earlier. The first employee insisted that this should be cancelled because the second employee hadn't actually booked to go away, whereas she had already booked and paid for her holiday. She was furious that I wouldn't force the other member of staff to change her plans.

If you want to make plans before getting approval for any time off, then that's entirely your prerogative, but you need to accept the inherent risk in doing so. Your line manager doesn't have to approve, and you can't expect to just guilt them into approving it if it isn't convenient.