Employer won't allow annual leave for holiday

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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

Did the op not return?!

I applied for all this year’s leave a year in advance and was still denied a whole week off in one go in the entire year. Most I’ve got off in one chunk is five days. - I work shifts, so can’t stick a weekend on either side to make a longer slot of time.

I book flights as soon as they come out with Easyjet, and as it's September for the next June, I'm pleased to read that there are so many of you waiting until January to book holiday, makes it cheaper for me! DH has never had leave refused, and has to take 10 consecutive working days at one point in the year so as none of our holidays are in school time, no problem.

Having to take two weeks at once would drive me mad, such a waste of annual leave. I prefer to go away for a week at a time and go for more than one holiday rather than one big one. Although I suppose if that was the policy I'd just have to out two holidays together. Kind of forces you to go away in the summer hols with kids though and I like May half term.

Although ds has GCSEs this year so no holiday this month :(

I'd also hate to work for an employer who won't clear holiday until very close to the dates. I am a planner, for example I booked our trip in July last August! That said it has backfired slightly as I worked around an event in my last job that I would have had to have attended but have since left that job and now have weird holiday dates as a consequence.

Do you think your husband was denied leave because he has lots of time off when the uni is shut down?

Or is it not like a school where teachers are expected to go away in the school holidays?

Universities can have a weird schedule - my husband works at one and basically from mid-June until October it's really hard to get holidays off as they are processing and planning for the next batch of starters.

Argh never book before leave is approved. Almost all employee contracts say you get xx days leave per year but employer has the right to either approve or refuse dates at their discretion. Sorry OP hope you get it sorted somehow - lesson learned though!

But he could take the weeks annual.leave and claim to be sick the 2nd week.

For fucks sake, do not follow this “advice”.

Very unfortunate OP but he was foolish not to get his leave approved first as others have said.

Do you think your husband was denied leave because he has lots of time off when the uni is shut down?

Or is it not like a school where teachers are expected to go away in the school holidays?

I'm a university admin and I assure you, we're not off over the summer! it's our busiest time of the year with exams, exam boards, resit exams (for those who failed the first sitting), timetabling, and planning for the next academic year. I can't take any time off from mid-May to the end of June or from the beginning of August to the middle of October. Then - lucky me - I also help colleagues with admissions so December is chockablock in the run up to the January UCAS deadline.

@amusedbush might explain why it got refused then 😂

Argh! Universities do not 'close down' over the summer. Just because students aren't there, it doesn't mean to say that people aren't working. Sorry for the outburst. It does my head in.

Calm down!!

My main leave is rostered. 1 week early in the year, 2 weeks summer leave and a week in winter. Periods rotate every year so I can work out my leave for years in advance. It's great for booking holidays.

Having to apply for a whole lot in January would be annoying.

My company always advised people not to book a holiday without leave being authorised.
There's always someone on these threads recommending that someone else lies to their employer about being ill in order to get paid holiday.

The only time I nearly got AL refused was when my inlaws had had to book a holiday stupidly far in advance, when I was on mat leave, as where we were going any school holiday dates got snapped up quickly.

As soon as I came back to work I gave, like ten months' notice of when I wanted to go on holiday, and my boss huffed and puffed but eventually allowed it, as she had been planning a holiday that week (though hadn't booked anything). And obviously the place would fall down if we both weren't there for a week.

But yes, normally, you should always book the leave in first.

I book flights as soon as they come out with Easyjet, and as it's September for the next June, I'm pleased to read that there are so many of you waiting until January to book holiday, makes it cheaper for me! DH has never had leave refused

Good for you. But surely you can accept that the workplace could rightfully refuse the leave and the loss of any money would be your own responsibility? If you can afford to take that risk then fair enough. And it's fortunate your DH has a workplace that can be flexible with leave. It's not that easy in many places.

Our holiday year works April-March, and the next years’ holiday period usually becomes available to book a couple of months’ beforehand. Works out well usually.

Agree with others that it was pretty stupid to book the holiday before getting the leave approved.

If you book a holiday before getting approval you should be aware that it can be rejected. We book out holidays well in advance- usually 9-12 months out. DH works for a consultancy and never knows where he’ll be by the time the holiday comes round and whether he’ll be able to go. That’s just the risk we take (no desire to do last minute holidays). If you don’t like the risk, you need to get approval first.

"Good for you. But surely you can accept that the workplace could rightfully refuse the leave and the loss of any money would be your own responsibility?"

Nope, it wouldn't. If I was on a project that needed me at a certain time and I'd already booked a hol for then, then either I wouldn't take it on, or they would make a decision whether or not they wanted me. It's probably pertinent to say I'm in an industry with a huge skills shortage (informed/lucky choice that I made many years ago) and that I don't get paid for holidays.

In my industry, we do have deadlines and sometimes they would say no holidays that haven't already been booked in September (say) but I don't need cover for when I'm away - if there are any meetings needed either the project manager would go or if he couldn't then it would be arranged for when I returned. It's not really the sort of work that needs a constant presence. DH is similar, though he can cover people anywhere in the world if necessary. I do find that there are few people around in December when the holiday year comes to an end!

And I do know that not every workplace is the same, but I've not worked in them and neither have my nearest & dearest.

Surprised he didn't think to check particularly as he works at a university, and will presumably be v busy over the summer months regardless of his role. Biggest arse ache of academia to me is that there is never a good time to take leave, and I always end up with weeks being cancelled or 'negotiated'. I'd not dare to actually pledge any money prior to doing all that.