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.

I love this thread. WorridMum, stick it to them. At the right time of course...

enjoy your holiday and spend some lovely time with your father.

"this section has the most traffic"

I never understand this. Why is lots of responses from a random selection of people better than a few measured, accurate responses from people who know the subject? That's not a criticism of you OP, it happens fairly frequently and it does confuse me.

Anyway, I note you have a lawyer, so I advise you to base any decisions you make purely on their advice, and not rely on anything in this thread.

Everyone here has been really supportive, and I'm really glad you've had such great support, but it is impossible for you to filter out which posts on this thread are useful/accurate/based on actual knowledge/experience, and which are not and unfortunately there are quite a few of the latter.

Just a thought, does your company offer an Employee Assistance Programme? If so, you may (regardless of being 'suspended') be able to access free legal advice through that.

I've had some shit thrown at me at work in the past (nothing on this level though,) which is why I went self-employed in the end. Now if someone pisses me off that's it, I won't work with them again.

The ambush tactic is pure workplace bullying no doubt about it.

From what you are saying (correct me if I am wrong) your colleague is still at work, when this thread started I thought she was already off and assumed it must be due to pregnancy complications.

Now I can see she is still working, and she just wants to start her leave early. People have already quoted the rules about that and I won't repost them, as I don't know what is accurate because I have never been pregnant.

What I personally believe (please don't flame me) is that pregnant women are virtually bullet proof at work. Your company needs one of you there and it's easier for them to try and bully you rather than her to work, because they know if they try it with your colleague they have little chance of winning if she takes legal action against them.

I haven't got time to read all this again but I think you mention (having) being quite friendly with your colleague. You can never have friends at work - trust me. A real friend wouldn't expect you to be £3000 down to accommodate her wanting to go off on leave early would they?

Slightly off topic.

but if you had been reimbursed and agree to cancel

and your dad had died in the time between holidays.

All so your colleague could get longed maternity.

Slightly off topic.

but if you had been reimbursed and agree to cancel

and your dad had died in the time between holidays.

All so your colleague could get longed maternity.

Slightly off topic.

but if you had been reimbursed and agree to cancel

and your dad had died in the time between holidays.

All so your colleague could get longed maternity.

Wow, I can't believe their response, they really are behaving in such a way that it leaves you no option but legal action.

Stories like this make me so glad that we have the employment laws that we do.

I hope that you have a wonderful holiday, find a much better job, and stick it to this company at a tribunal.

You colleagues and bosses are behaving incredibly badly. Well done for standing up to them. I'm so glad you have copies of all their e mails and have consulted a lawyer. They have totally underestimated you.

I can understand why you are worried but I think you would have ended up looking for a new job anyway in the near future as nobody wants to work for a company like yours.

I suspect that your pregnant colleague and bosses will all be looking for a new job soon as well..

Oh, I think you'll be able to string 'em up over this!

Crucial emails wiped due to a technical fault?

Ambushing you in a meeting and threatening you?

They are bullies and stupid to boot.

OP, you've handled it brilliantly.

How stupid are they? Now they have neither of you.

When are you off on your holiday OP?

God OP do NOT let this spoil your holiday! You are better off without these bastards and you will come out of it smelling of roses! Well done on backing the emails up!

My tuppence fwiw, OP, is that the law is now changed so that you HAVE to go via ACAS before tribunal who have 30 days to attempt to mediate a settlement, and they will do this without you incurring legal costs. If, after 30 days, you are still at stalemate, then you can prepare for tribunal. I would ring them today to get the ball rolling on this, making emotional trauma part of your case. You may be financially ok to wait until after your holiday, but if not get things moving now so that you don't spend another month unpaid after your holiday. IMO they have not a single leg to stand on and will cave pdq, but get as much prep done now so you can rest easy while you are away. Good luck, OP, they are wankers!

Blimey. I posted before and figured it nothing much might happen. Boy was I wrong. Glad to hear the lawyer helped, if nothing else than to explain it to a knowledgeable person.

I'm unsure I have more advice. Just hugs. So sorry. Makes you feel shit. Hope you're ok. Xxxx

Oh dear sounds horrendous and stressful for you OP. Hope it hasn't spoiled your time off.
Please do get in touch with ACAS - they are brilliant.

What LoodleDoodle described is Early Conciliation which people now have to do before they can lodge a claim at the Employment tribunal. Give Acas a bell and they will explain all. This might not have to cost you too much if they realise how weak their legal case is.

Well done op. What a bunch of cunts. Enjoy your holiday and seeing your family.

Thinking about it, that claim to have lost four days of emails has to be rubbish. Any big company will have a system in place for backing up emails offsite at least daily, and indeed it would be potentially disastrous for any business to have lost four days' worth of emails, orders etc with no possibility of retrieving them. This lot don't even seem to be very good at lying. If you do go to tribunal, demand copies of all emails mentioning you and covering the last month or so.

Wait for them to now to attempt to book a meeting in the middle of your leave.

Spiteful guys.

I honestly can't believe this can happen. Absolutely shocking.

A friend of mine has recently been through something quite similar.
When he walked into the ACAS meeting with a lawyer and his evidence (saved emails etc) he said they FOLDED like a wet napkin. All their bravado, posturing, threats , evaporated in the blink of an eye.

He got almost 9 months salary and a glowing reference out of them not to take it to tribunal.

That's disgusting! It's their problem not yours. Don't back down!

Have you emailed them to say they are breaking the law to suspend you without pay ?

Why are they claiming they are suspending you