Boss tried to cancel my holiday because colleague has to isolate

[Bluebeth]

Name changed because some of my workmates are here.

One of them is in France, and has another week of her holiday to go. She says she won’t come home early and will be returning next weekend. This means she has to isolate for two weeks.

My holiday is booked when she is supposed to be back at work, and my boss said I can’t take it. A call to the union rep has sorted that out, but I am still being bullied over it. Another call to the union will made on Monday.

Anyone else getting this kind of shit?

I'm glad your union has your back.

It's your colleague your boss should be annoyed with, not you!

Glad your union was able to help. Agree- the boss should be angry with colleague not you.

Usually work can cancel booked leave if they give reasonable notice, which is often around twice the length of the booked leave, in emergency situations. So, legally they may well be able to do this, depending on your contract and staff handbook.

It is definitely your colleague's responsibility to be in work when they are supposed to be.

Boss can tell colleague they need to take unpaid leave and use the savings by getting Agency in

It's hardly the colleagues fault either though is it?

YABU. Employers can dictate annual leave, and they can cancel it too as long as they give twice the amount of notice ie. if it was a week booked, they’d need to give two weeks notice.

So if they gave the appropriate notice, they aren’t doing anything wrong.

@luckylavender

It's hardly the colleagues fault either though is it?

Colleague is refusing to come back early and will then have to isolate for 2 weeks.

Colleague is refusing to come back early and will then have to isolate for 2 weeks.

@CliftonGreenYork Why should she come back early from her holiday?

@pinkcircustop

YABU. Employers can dictate annual leave, and they can cancel it too as long as they give twice the amount of notice ie. if it was a week booked, they’d need to give two weeks notice.

So if they gave the appropriate notice, they aren’t doing anything wrong.

And (genuine question) do they have to reimburse you for unrefundable expenses if they do this? I’d be pretty furious if I had paid for a holiday/my wedding/whatever and my employer then cancelled my leave out from underneath me and left me massively out of pocket...

@pinkcircustop

Colleague is refusing to come back early and will then have to isolate for 2 weeks.

@CliftonGreenYork Why should she come back early from her holiday?

They shouldn’t. Neither should OP be penalised because management can’t cope.

So have the union got them to retract the cancellation of your leave, but you're still getting grief about it?
I can't see how either worker is at fault here morally speaking. It's employers expecting individuals to suck up the consequences rather than take the hit themselves. And then they wonder why people leave or mysteriously call in sick.

@pinkcircustop

Colleague is refusing to come back early and will then have to isolate for 2 weeks.

@CliftonGreenYork Why should she come back early from her holiday?

And why should the op cancel her holiday because of it?

Colleague in France takes unpaid leave and boss gets agency staff in. Sorted.

Legally, they can cancel your annual leave as long as they give you the right amount of notice.

How long is your holiday for?

It’s not about coming back early. If you’ve been in France in the past ten days you still have to isolate. It’s not a case of jumping on a plane before the rules change

@Foolsrule

It’s not about coming back early. If you’ve been in France in the past ten days you still have to isolate. It’s not a case of jumping on a plane before the rules change

Yes but if she starts the isolation today/tomorrow then she will be back at work sooner.

Sounds like the colleague might be staying longer than expected.

@Foolsrule

It’s not about coming back early. If you’ve been in France in the past ten days you still have to isolate. It’s not a case of jumping on a plane before the rules change

It’s about coming home early enough to fit her isolation within her booked leave period.

It’s no ones fault and no one should have to cancel their holiday. If the boss can’t cope, they need to get agency in pronto.
It’s not rocket science.

@pinkcircustop

Colleague is refusing to come back early and will then have to isolate for 2 weeks.

@CliftonGreenYork Why should she come back early from her holiday?

This. It’s hardly her fault if this government changes its mind every five minutes.

Usually your work is able to cancel your booked leave if they follow the right procedures - you hear it all the time on police programmes - that all leave is cancelled.

@MarianneUnfaithful - the rules for France changed last night. Loads of people have been caught out. Not easy but she likely can’t fit in the isolation within her holiday period anyway now.

You go on holiday in the middle of a global pandemic, you do so knowing that this sort of shit can happen and accept whatever needs to happen because of the changes