DD has not been paid for any of her annual leave, is there anything she can do?

[BobButtonsismycat]

DD17 works at a well known UK store since November 2024.

Let's call them 'The Mange'!

Before her new manager started in May this year she had no issues at all, however, since then several problems have arisen including this latest irk.

DD works 4 hours each on a Saturday and Sunday. She has to request all annual leave via an app. The manager will not accept requests if she has already made up the rota which is often completed a month or two ahead of time, fair enough, that's not the issue. Some time ago DD requested a weekend off each in June, July and again last weekend. These were all accepted on the app by the manager. However, when DD has checked her recent pay she noticed that she has not been paid for the June and July time off. When she asked the manager about this she told dd is was dd's fault. Apparently she should have marked down the actual hours requested off, so 14.00-18.00 on 26/07/25 instead of simply marking down the 26th July etc and therefore she will not get paid and she can not do anything about last week's time off either so will not get paid for this. The manager knows full well DD only ever works 4 hours on each day and usually the exact same hours too, surely she could have either corrected this herself at the time of request or asked dd to re-enter the details correctly, how was dd supposed to know this if no one informs her? She has spoken to a couple of the other younger ones and the same has been done to them.

Before this manager started in May this had never been an issue, the previous manager would accept the dates DD requested and she was paid accordingly.

The issue going forward is that DD has some AL still to take but the manager has already made up the rotas for the next couple of months and the staff are not allowed to take any time off during their busy Christmas period, her holiday entitlement starts from January to end of December and any annual leave not taken is lost.

Can DD request they back pay this AL taken (and approved) or will she have to see this as a life lesson?

Sorry, I don't have much employment experience as I have been self employed for years so not sure on the laws although I am planning on contacting ACAS today to see if they can advise.

An employee has to be able to take their outstanding leave. An employer cannot make it impossible.

C&p from Acas website: An employer cannot refuse to let workers take any holiday at all. By law, an employer must make sure workers can take the amount of holiday they're entitled to during the year.

Exactly this.

An email to HR, copying in the manager, saying the following should suffice:

"Hi HR,

I understand that I must legally be allowed to take all of my annual leave before the end of the annual leave year.

Please can you clarify how it is possible for me to do this if my twat of a manager keeps denying my requests for annual leave despite the dates being available and the rota not yet being up?

Thanks!"

I admire her attitude. Something will come right for her eventually.

With lots of new people in the area, has she considered petsitting (cat, dog, fish,...) or similar home services so she doesn't need to rely on an employer? E.g. plant watering while people are on holiday. It can be especially lucrative in areas with lots of new people who don't know their neighbours well enough to feed the cat yet.

I do catsitting on the side within a 15 minute cycle, usually make about £100-300 a month, some months £800 (I have a few regulars). Unfortunately you need to be 18 to register with e.g. Rover or Cat In A Flat, but she can get started with Nextdoor and good old word of mouth.

You will need some testimonials/reviews, but that can be from e.g. family members whose dog she's walked.

You do have to like animals and updating the owners with cute photos!

Thank you. DD adores animals but the pet sitting/dog walking businesses within our area is quite saturated. I was a dog walker for 5 years until the lockdowns hit and lost most of my clients as many ended up wfh.

Nothing ventured and all that though, no harm in trying I suppose. She could put some flyers around.

What about babysitting?

Think she'd prefer to go down the pet sitting route, she's not keen on children tbh.

Please support your dd and report this. It is all unacceptable and if you put it in an email to the manager and HR this should be resolved and dd should receive the pay for the holiday taken. The whole thing is very poor. I do accounts, payroll, HR and I am not happy reading everything you've written because it's all just wrong, and we all know that.

Did the manager respond to your email?