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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to make these requests from my new employers?

50 replies

AViolinPlayer · 20/11/2013 00:51

Hi there, I'm new to the UK and I need some advice :)

I moved here about a year ago when I got married and now I finally have a job. Yay!

I get 25 days holiday in a year and from my understanding I can't take all 25 days at the same time.

Now here is the thing- all my other colleagues are from the UK or within the EU and so they have families that live a one or two hour flight away. Visiting family is not an issue for them because they can even do it over the weekend. However, my family lives a 9 hour flight away from London and so I would need to take at least 10-14 days off in order to be able to visit them. It doesn't make sense for me to spend close to £700 on a ticket to visit them for 2 days. Furthermore, most of my time would be spent travelling anyway.

So I want to request that I be given around 14 days of my holiday allowance at the same time so that I can plan a visit back home to meet my mum, sister and grandparents. My family means a lot to me and my grandma has been really sick lately. I would hate it if I couldn't visit them every year :( :( I don't mind what time of the year I am given these days off and I don't even care if it is paid leave. I just want to have some time to be able to visit my family.

Is this an unreasonable request? I am very unfamiliar with UK employment rules and I'd love some advice. :)

Thanks!!

OP posts:

MrsCakesPremonition · 20/11/2013 01:17

X-post.

Yes - you could potentially have two holidays using 10 days a/l each time.

MrsCakesPremonition · 20/11/2013 01:18

And still have another week left over to take when you want.

Original poster

AViolinPlayer · 20/11/2013 01:18

No, to the contrary, I come from a country where if you are entitled to 25 days off in a year, you can take them all in a go. That's why I am trying to work out how to plan a trip out of the country where I can't take all my leave in one go.

OP posts:

Original poster

AViolinPlayer · 20/11/2013 01:19

MrsCakes- you have just made my day

I miss my family so very much and I'd love to be able to visit them twice a year. :)

OP posts:

MrsCakesPremonition · 20/11/2013 01:20

Great!

Good luck for when you ask... hope you get all the holiday you want.

MarjorieAntrobus · 20/11/2013 01:23

I think we all keep saying this, but I am not sure you have grasped it. Apologies for the repetition . . .

25 days is 25 working days ie 5 working weeks

If you want to be absent from work for two whole weeks, you just use 10 days of leave ie MTWTFMTWTF

caroldecker · 20/11/2013 01:25

Most banks should insist all staff take at least 10 days leave (so 16 days including the weekends) for fraud reasons.

MarjorieAntrobus · 20/11/2013 01:25

Oh sorry, I thought you were used to short holidays and couldn't believe that two weeks would be possible. I get it now, you'd like to be able to take five weeks all together.

Two or three weeks would be normal, and you could do it twice, as pp said.

EBearhug · 20/11/2013 01:31

Two holidays of a fortnight each is pretty normsl.

It may also depend which bank and what current rules are. I used to work for an American bank and every employee was meant to have at least a 2 week block out of the office with no contact (if you're defrauding them, it's likely to show up in that time, apparently.) It could include things like training courses, not just holidays. I don't know if it's still the case - it was a Federal Reserve Bank rule, I think, but things have changed so much in the world of smartphones and social media, they must have had to update the rules, I'd have thought.

it's always worth asking. I had 3 weeks off in September, which we could work round because it was booked quite far in advance. It does mean the rest of the year is a long time between breaks though (especially if you use some of your other days for interviews, which is quite work-like and stressful.)

Don't forget, if you can get holiday round a bsnk holiday, it gives you a longer break without usinf more leave - but everyone likes doing this, so competition for those times can be fierce, and also flight costs etc may be more expensive.

Hope you enjoy great holidays!

EBearhug · 20/11/2013 01:32

Cross-posted with Carol about banks and fraud.

out2lunch · 20/11/2013 01:36

I was just going to post about working for a bank too.

galwaygirl · 20/11/2013 01:39

Totally normal to take 2-3 weeks.
Lloyd Banking Group insist on one 2 week block a year.
Hope you are listening to people explaining you don't count weekends...

Original poster

AViolinPlayer · 20/11/2013 01:53

I checked and the employee website states that I we can't take more than two weeks at a time and that any leave will have to be approved by the Manager and will require 15 days notice.

I don't mind giving notice and I hope I get an amenable manager. The two weeks restriction is OK, and I hope it means that I can take two separate holidays in a year.

OP posts:

Original poster

AViolinPlayer · 20/11/2013 01:55

I didn't know about this bank fraud thing

So are we required to do something specific in these two mandatory weeks off, or is it OK to go away to visit family?

OP posts:

MarjorieAntrobus · 20/11/2013 01:57

Remember that two weeks off equals 10 days leave.

It's normal to give some notice. Also standard that the manager has to approve it.

MrsCakesPremonition · 20/11/2013 01:59

No - there's nothing mandatory, the main thing is to be away from the office and to have someone else doing your role - especially if your role is responsible for money/accounts.

MarjorieAntrobus · 20/11/2013 02:00

I'm intrigued too but I but that it's just that if you were doing something fraudulent you'd have to be fiddling with the figures on a regular basis and two weeks absence would show up in the books somehow. Dunno. Maybe the banking types will explain.

MarjorieAntrobus · 20/11/2013 02:00

Aha. X post. Thanks.

HaggertyF · 20/11/2013 02:02

OP, you can do whatever you like during your leave from work. Your employer doesn't own you!

CoolaSchmoola · 20/11/2013 02:32

Plus you'll get ten public holiday days per year. If Christmas is midweek, as it is this year and next you can get sixteen days off over Christmas and New Year for seven days annual leave allowance.

Noctilucent · 20/11/2013 03:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EBearhug · 20/11/2013 06:26

it's just that if you were doing something fraudulent you'd have to be fiddling with the figures on a regular basis and two weeks absence would show up in the books somehow.

That's pretty much it.

EBearhug · 20/11/2013 06:27

10 public holidays? It's only 8 usually, isn't it?

DragonMamma · 20/11/2013 06:39

FCA requirements are that financial services staff have a block of 10 every year I.e 2 weeks.

2 weeks is a standard block of leave but anything over that has to fall under 'exceptional life event' such as an extended honeymoon or once in a lifetime trip.

Ememem84 · 20/11/2013 06:45

If you work in finance (as I do) you'll be expected to take 2 weeks off in one go.

If you're clever time it alongside bank holidays.

We're planning on going to nz next Christmas for 3 weeks. But have planned it do with bank holidays I'll get almost a month off but only take 17 days.

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