Work trying to bully me into cancelling holiday

[worridmum]

Sorry if this is the wrong place but this section has the most traffic and hoping for someone to help me.

Long story short is a booked my annaul leave in january in line with company policy and it was approved. After the approval I booked an expesive holiday to the USA for 3 weeks to see my parents as my father is in poor health and would like to see him before he deterates futher (long term problem with no possiblity of a cure sadly).

Now the crux of the problem last week my work colleuge is now wanting to start her metinity leave 2 months early than planned and now because our department is small one of us must be in the building for the department to run (I dont want to give too much details here as its very specislt field of work and dont want to out myself) and the meritity cover cannot start 2 months early than planned so my boss is putting large amounts of pressure to cancel my holiday and treating gross misconduct when I refused to cancel it as my manager blunty said when I asked is the company going to compestate for my finacel loss (non-refundable flights / hotel deposits etc) and she basically said tough luck the company WILL NOT pay for the loss of this money (roughly £3000) and I should just absorb this loss and consider it one of those things, which I replied no I am not willing to lose not only my last possible chance of seeing my Father before he passes away but also that amount of money which is a large amount for me.

Which is the reason she is quoting gross misconduct as I am refusing to cancel my holiday with only 2 weeks notice and that I am expected to eat the fiancal loss as well as prescous time with my father and my question is twofold

I am unreasonable to refuse to NOT cancel my holiday no matter that it will causes massive problems for the company and the second are they legally allowed to breech their own policies relating to booked holidays to be able to say my holiday will be treated as unauthrised absance and thus a gross misconduct offence even though I have all the documents saying it was authorised etc and finally if they are allowed to cancel my holiday at such short notice can force them to pay for my lost money so I am not out of pocket (travel insurnce will not pay out as it is not covered by their terms)

I am sorry for the long post and if it is in the wrong area and for any spelling or grammer mistakes as I have dylexia and no spell checker on this device.

Very wise advice, Parsing.

Maximin payout for unfair dismissal is around 65000 (unless its related to discrimination when it's higher but I don't think this is)...so sounds like a good deal!

Good advice re thread and date of gagging order...

OP - please make your solicitor aware of this thread.

By doing that they can ensure that any gagging order that you sign comes into effect AFTER your last post in this thread.

Even if the thread is deleted (Come on MNHQ, chop chop) your employers MAY already have a copy which they could produce at the last minute to invalidate any payouts.

Full disclosure to your solicitor is vital.

Take the deal, delete the thread just to be safe.

Well done OP that's a really good outcome! I agree with getting the thread deleted. It will be a shame but it's definitely wise!

I hope you find a new job but for now enjoy the break!!

Just wanted to say well done OP before the thread goes xx

Another well done here!

Really chuffed you stood your ground and stuck to your guns. Even happier your company has had to pay the price as perhaps they'll treat their workers as they lawfully deserve to be treated.

That's such great news!!

I really can't see anything identifiable on this thread. Your employers would have a job proving it was you as you didn't mention the company or job.

I am kind of curious what you do that is so unique though. Intriguing!

Great thread and I'm so impressed with the advice and support offered to the OP. hard to see why any company would treat people so badly and I'm glad OP is going to be recompensed.

Soon time for this all to disappear? Can't see any way in which company has been identified though.

Congratulations OP! That settlement should set you up for a fantastic future. I wish you well. You deserve it.

glad to hear your father is ok and you had a a good holiday

sounds like a good settlement, I hope it is all sorted out quickly for you

Well done OP! Great news! I hope your solicitor knows about the thread and puts in that it comes into effect after the signing of the contract and I hope the thread goes soon.

Well done OP Great result.

Doesn't matter, you look at the date of the gag order, and the dates on the thread. They can only count what you say after the gag.

But yes, I would show your lawyer this thread. They can't do anything to you since you didn't list the company, and you did it before the gag. But it's good to get it on record before hand so they can't do anything sneaky.

Agree the exact wording of the reference and get the full text put in your agreement. I think 2 years sounds fine, but I don't know what field you work in and I'd only accept if you can realistically find work in the same field at the same level within two years. I know in my job I wouldn't realstically be able to so I'd be up the swanny by the time the money ran out,

Hello again I have already shown my lawyer the thread she said aslong as I dont name people by name and or identify myself or the company they can do nothing against me for this thread but she said that i must not mention anywhere the names that the company owns as that will also breach the order but as it stands the thread is fine as the company cannot prove it is me posting about their company as no names have been mentioned but she did reitarate that I should not go into more dpeth than I have already have done.

So any gag order that we will sign will be on after the date of the thread so they cannot play any dirty tricks

And thank you again everyone for all their support and advice I would most likely not be in the postion I am today without you all

finney I can find work in my field at the same level but only with the relevent reference and proof of experance (without the reference I would be scuppered as I would not be able to prove my abilties or postion without)

Dont get me wrong I wont be able to walk into a job tomorrow but I will be able to get somewhere in the field with the reference even if I have to go to USA or withn the mainland EU

Wishing you all the best I am glad you came back to let everyone know what happened.

OP - That's good news however I would still chase MNHQ and ask them to delete the thread, just in case someone tries to "out" you.

I'm very aware of Vicarinatutu being cruelly "outed" a few days ago.

Congratulations OP. A horrible outcome to your job, but superb result in the circumstances.
Your solicitor will be on this but make sure you get £30k of the non contractual bit tax free! It'll be in the compromise wording.

So glad to hear it turned out well and yes, I would accept the 2 years pay as a reasonable result.

I hope one of those bastards loses their job over what they put you through at such a difficult time.

Vicarinatutu was outed?!