To think if my colleague does this with her child then I should be able to as well… and it is unfair unlike what HR are saying?

[Hawua]

Colleague came back from maternity last year and used holiday 2 days a week, effectively working a 3 day week. This meant she could put her ds in nursery 3 days a week, saving quite a chunk of childcare cost.

We are exactly the same level and do the same job and joined in the same year, four years ago.

I am being told on my return from mat leave that I can’t use holiday like that and must take it all in one go. This means I will have full childcare costs while my colleague had 8 months worth of 3 day week (we have a lot of holiday allowance).

HR have said that the cost for childcare evens out as I am having six weeks off in one go, so saving a bulk in childcare that way? Am I missing something? they’ve also said my colleague is a single parent and so they made an extra flexible option for her, how is this fair?!

Did your colleague put the request in at the right time of the year to allow more than one years annual leave to be booked and you are at the wrong time meaning it can't be carried over?

Or they've realised the massive issues it's causing and won't allow it. Ultimately, they don't have to let you have annual leave when you want it BUT their comment re costing the same amount shows they have never used a nursery themselves and therefore have no understanding of how they work. Do you want to work for a company with no foresight this way? What else are they missing and arguing as gospel.

If you were in the US this would be unfair and actionable. Your HR stated - because she was a single parent they allowed this. In the US EEOC, Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, would deem this unreasonable.

But also in the US you might not have any maternity leave or just 8 weeks like my newest grandchild.

You will likely be told the business needs have changed and there isn't much you can do about that unfortunately. I was screwed in a similar way, I worked my KIT days where my colleague came in for a natter for 20 minutes and got paid for her days every time she was doing that.

A flexible working request that works for you is the way to go.

They only have to consider the request at the time it is made and if they found it didn't work for them previously they don't have to allow it again having tried it before with a different employee.

I was going to say this.

They did it for her. They might not want to do it again. I can see what it is annoying but things change. Business needs change.

Exactly you may as well employ part time staff as a business as would be cheaper.

Doesn't it work out the same? If you have 30 days and use it to delay paying for childcare for six weeks (I e don't return second week of January but in march) then you've saved 30 days of childcare.

If you use it for 2 days over 15 weeks you've still saved 30 days of childcare.

The problem with using it for two days a week is that the provider won't necessarily have a full time place at the end of that.

Anther factor that might come into play is whether it falls over two holiday years. Sometimes leave carried over must be used in a block before returning.

Seems like discrimination in her favour. Being a single parent is not a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act. If she was allowed this, then everyone should be otherwise your employer is favouring one person over another. I’d ask why you’re being treated differently.

Agreeing something for one staff member can actually often make it harder for other staff who want the same. For example, if I only wanted to work early shifts and it was agreed, then it’s unlikely anyone else at my location would be able to do the same as there wouldn’t be a need for anyone else on early turn and it would leave no one to cover the late shifts.

I think you are right to be annoyed about this. It is favourable treatment and totally unfair. Difficult to know what to do. Maybe a compromise of 4 days a week or compressed hours. I hate this one rule for some and different rules for others. Its not acceptable.

It’s the same if you tag it onto the end of your maternity leave. You pay the same number of fewer days.

Seems like discrimination in her favour. Being a single parent is not a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act. If she was allowed this, then everyone should be otherwise your employer is favouring one person over another. I’d ask why you’re being treated differently.

Discrimination on what basis @Cherrysoup ? Treating people differently isn’t automatically discrimination.

If they treated OP differently because of a protected characteristic then yes, but OP hasn’t said anything to suggest that.

It isn’t discriminatory to make adjustments for someone based on a protected characteristic, unless you’re referencing positive discrimination? However, if her colleague has been treated differently-which it seems she has because she’s been told she can’t have the same deal (because her employer said the colleague is getting the deal because she’s a single parent)-then it is discriminatory. Unequal treatment.

@Cherrysoup Have a read of this: https://www.acas.org.uk/discrimination-and-the-law

Unless they have denied OP her annual leave requests because of a protected characteristic they have not done anything discriminatory.

The only hint of a discrimination claim could be if OP was married and believed the comment about her colleague being a single parent meant she was being disadvantaged because she was married/in a civil partnership, but I still wouldn’t expect that to be enough to get her anywhere and she most likely has more to gain than lose by focussing on pursuing it instead of considering alternative options.

Also have you offered to have different days than Monday and Friday as the holiday?

Have you spoken to the nursery? Mine had a waiting list for full time so I had to work around that - it was very much on their schedule and not mine.

Your work are treating you differ from someone who hasn’t been on maternity leave. They wouldn’t be told to take all their holiday in one go. Therefore, what your work is doing is unlawful, as they are not allowed to treat you differently on account of a protected characteristic. Push back on it. They’re breaking the law.

The colleague was also on maternity leave. What law are they breaking? What is the protected characteristic?

Your work are treating you differ from someone who hasn’t been on maternity leave. They wouldn’t be told to take all their holiday in one go. Therefore, what your work is doing is unlawful, as they are not allowed to treat you differently on account of a protected characteristic. Push back on it. They’re breaking the law.

Its an interesting thought, I imagine they’d argue that OP has accrued a year of annual leave entitlement while on maternity leave, and so now has a very high annual leave quota which would be hard to ensure she is able to take throughout the year otherwise.

I also think if OP was to complain about this they’d potentially say “okay don’t take it all in one go then, but you’re still not using 2 days a week”. Which would leave OP worse off because she’d have to pay for nursery those 6 weeks she would have been on leave for.

Did you ask in writing? If not submit request again now and write it out in full: all your supporting reasons, why a nursery won't take you on using them in that bizarre ad hoc way (you need regular hours all the time to keep a place). Then start looking for suing them for discrimination if they say no, they've established a precedent now so by not allowing you same option they're open to a charge of discrimination against you

People seem to think HR make the decisions. They do not. They guide the business on process and advise on risk and legality. Management in the business make the decisions and HR facilitate this.

The cost isn't the same.

Once in nursery you have to pay for holidays too, HR have assumed you don't.

Could you take your hols all in one go and forego using a nursery for longer?

Also, flex working isn't how you take your holidays! They have agreed to her holidays. End of. However agreeing to her holidays may mean they can't agree to the same pattern for you because it would have an adverse impact on the . So is that why they're saying no to you?

Are there other working patterns you could consider? Eg compressed days, so 5 days of hours over 4 days - that's my working pattern but it applies to our whole organisation?

There are many ways to set up flex working, I'd speak to ACAS and take some advice.

@Doone22 What makes you think they’ve rejected OPs annual leave request because of a protected characteristic? They haven’t set a precedent and treating two people differently is in no way automatically discriminatory.

OP would also be expected to exhaust the internal grievance procedure before making any sort of “charge”, by which I’m assuming you mean take them to employment tribunal? Which is both a very long and emotionally exhausting process. Expensive too, if you want legal advice for it.

All they have done is turn down an annual leave request. There is not a chance that this is going to be deemed as discriminatory.

They are entirely correct, what are you not understanding? Your colleague would have to start childcare 6 weeks earlier in order to have 2 days off a week, you get 6 extra weeks off of AL in one go at the start - it's saving the exact same amount of childcare fees. I hope your job's not in finance!

It is a company's prerogative when they allow people to use their leave. They obviously don't want two staff members working 3 day weeks, for whatever reason. Entirely within their rights, legally.

Whst type of accommodations would you suggest for working parents? Full pay but working part time? Be specific