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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Christmas Annual Leave

90 replies

UnFairPolicy · 18/12/2018 15:08

I work in an office, normal 9-5:30 jobby

We have to book annual leave for Christmas so I have booked Christmas Eve and in doing so have to use 7.5hours of my annual leave for the full day

It was announced today that our offices will be allowed to close at 3pm on Christmas Eve so I asked whether I still needed to use 7.5 hours of leave or whether I only needed to book 5. I was advised that I still need to take the full 7.5

AIBU to think that's quite unfair? No one is now going to be working the full 7.5 hours and if I cancelled my leave and re-booked it to finish at, say, 12:30 I would only need to book 2.5 hours of leave...

Opinions please

OP posts:

ClaryFray · 18/12/2018 17:16

My company does it, its a chance you take.

Cancel your leave and go in if 2.5 hours is that important.

Lauren83 · 18/12/2018 17:29

I'm on holiday Xmas even and booked 7.5 hours, we will close early I just see it as a bonus for everyone that's in that they leave early

CloserIAm2Fine · 18/12/2018 17:37

We have reduced hours over Christmas and any booked annual leave is counted as the actual open hours not our normal hours

However all but a skeleton staff will leave at least a couple of hours early without using leave. But I think this is fair enough tbh. If you’ve booked it off you know you have the whole day free. If you’re working there’s no guarantee when you’ll get to leave and you might be the unlucky ones who stay til close. It irritated me one year when I’d booked to finish at the same time as everyone else ended up finishing, but I needed the guarantee of leaving at that time to catch a train so put up with it

SpannerH · 18/12/2018 17:41

At my work they have let people leave at the same time (12.30) every xmas eve for the last 5 years I have worked there but because its not 'official' you still have to book the full day if you want A/L. It's stupid

Seniorcitizen1 · 18/12/2018 17:44

It is unfair. I don’t allow staff home early if they want to work bank holidays when other staff take annual leave. I don’t give bank holidays as such - they are rolled into annual leave so they can work them if they want or not. But staff who work them always want to leave early - I don’t allow it as unfair to those who took AL

ForalltheSaints · 18/12/2018 18:02

The having a day off as leave for the whole of December 24th is fair to me (doing this myself, am in for two days between Christmas and New Year).

What is unfair is the person who is not working on the 28th and has no intention it seems of ever working between Christmas and New Year. You need to think of a strategy to ensure that this trick is not pulled next year- perhaps by asking about Christmas leave say in early September, and offering to work Christmas Eve. I hope this person is not a 'take take take' person in any other respects.

ChocolateWombat · 18/12/2018 18:16

This year you can finish on Fri so get to go away on Friday night or Saturday and squeeze in an extra weekend by taking a day of leave. Yes you might lose out on a couple of hours but you've gained the whole extra weekend, extending your time off. Those going in on Monday might gain an extra couple of hours via early finish but they won't get that lovely 'finished for Christmas' feel until Monday, and bearing in mind lots of people will have to work on 27Th or even Boxing Day, many will feel that it's worth it to add the weekend onto their holiday.

I agree that if you work it you get the benefit - it's not a transferable benefit, but one specific to that particular day, in the same way working New Years Eve with an early finish might be, or working between Christmas and New Year might result in slightly later starts and earlier finishes/easier working days. Best not to be the office moaner about a couple of hours or possibly the office moaner about every little thing that doesn't seem fair to the nth degree - sometimes it's just life and you take the rough with the smooth and don't sweat the little things.

ScreamingValenta · 18/12/2018 18:19

This is an excellent point.

DontCallMeCharlotte · 21/12/2018 15:34

Our office does this, however it's never guaranteed and some years we finish at 2pm, other years it might not be until nearer 4pm.

Our does this. I've booked the whole day off of the 24th (we book in days/half days) and it grates a little bit but last year we didn't finish until 4pm when I was working, which also grated.

I have no doubt they'll finish very early this year!

I have an update if anyone's interested. Just found out they're not opening on Monday at all. And my "joked" about having my day's annual leave back was roundly ignored.

(Before anyone suggests going to HR, there are only four of us in the company.)

Happy bloody Christmas.

KTheGrey · 21/12/2018 18:57

Well fwiw my flabber is totally ghasted by the Scroogey double dipping of employers here. If the office isn't open it isn't AL because you can't work. So surely they have to put it back on your allowance, or
you are being cheated. It's like counting a weekend day as AL. What bastards some employers are.

currentcake · 21/12/2018 19:23

Pointless reply from me but
Oh what I would do to have a job where I get Xmas off 😤😭

Crunchymum · 21/12/2018 19:28

As you book hourly then it is a bit unfair but we've always been told if we want to book leave on Xmas or NYE it's a full day. The office shuts at 3pm on both days but often people leave by 2pm.

ShitOnItt · 21/12/2018 19:57

My DP never uses annual leave during Christmas week, because he knows they will close the office down at lunch time so he sees it as a waste of a days holiday. He does give them a lot of unpaid OT though so doesn’t feel like it’s unfair. And there is always the chance that some crisis will happen and he will have to stay, but it’s a chance he takes.

BikeRunSki · 21/12/2018 20:11

I work fora government agency, this is my 15th Christmas. We’ve always been sent home at 1 pm on Christmas Eve for “free”, if we make the effort to come in that day. I see that as a bonus; not that not getting an extra half day off is penalty!

Celticrose · 21/12/2018 20:42

Where I used to work we closed the office at lunch time and and would leave work after everything was cleared up. Any leave that day was counted as a full day. But that changed a few years ago to it being a half days leave. There were people who came in early due to certain tasks having to be completed that day. Also if any one worked more hours than the half day they got to take them in lieu of overtime though not sure if I am totally correct but they definitely got some time off

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