Been refused any annual leave this year.

[HolidayNotAvailable]

§Name changed as I don’t want my name to be associated as I know some people who work for the same company are on here.

I am entitled to 25 days annual leave, which increases every year after two years.

If you don’t take all your annual leave you can carry over 35 hours but if you don’t take the rest then you lose it.

Things are made more complicated by the fact that people are allowed to buy additional annual leave, and this means that a lot of people have up to 35 days.

The upshot of this is that there isn’t enough quota in the calendar to allow all annual leave requests.

Our annual leave system is digital, we book annual leave and receive a message to say it is either declined or accepted.

And the annual leave is based on how many people are available in the department not the team.

Most people end up booking all their annual leave at the beginning of the year, including their extra two weeks which most people have bought.

Which means that if you haven’t booked any annual leave for the next year by the end of December when the annual leave is released on to the system you pretty much don’t stand a chance.

I didn’t book as soon as the leave was released not least because I didn’t have any specific plans, but even when I started to try a couple of days in all my requests were declined.

To date I have attempted to book several weeks in every month of the year, and apart from one week in December, and one day which I know I will get over Christmas because those are booked separately, every one of my requests has been declined.

So this means that by the end of the year I am going to have about four weeks annual leave left, and I can only carry over one week.
I am certain that this is made worse by the fact that people are able to buy extra leave and that realistically we don’t have enough quota in the department to accommodate existing annual leave as wel as essentially several months worth when you take into account all that has been bought.

Some people have 6/7 weeks booked in, and I can’t even get one.

I’m sure there’s no way I can get the time off, so I’ve resigned myself to not taking any annual leave this year apart from that one week in December.

But would it be reasonable to approach my employer and request that, given I’ve been declined any leave, they buy it back off me? I don’t know what else to do.

It's a stupid system, you shouldn't be able to purchase additional leave, if others can't use they allocated. Most people would give up booking and go off sick and with this system I wouldn't blame them & I'm a HR Manager.

Clearly the current system your employer is operating doesn’t work. Have a conversation and ask them how you are supposed to get your leave in as the current approach leans everything you have requested bar what you have mentioned has been declined.

You’re being unreasonable.
Speak to HR and make a complaint. You’re entitled to your annual leave. Their poor management of time off isn’t your responsibility

Just found this on the UK government holiday entitlement SECTION of the government website...

Almost all people classed as workers are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year (known as statutory leave entitlement or annual leave). This includes: agency workers. workers with 'irregular hours' (where the number of hours they work in a pay period often or always changes)

That's appalling. Are you in a Union?

Dunno about UK, but in the USA, this would be illegal. I'm sure there are some sort of laws about it there, I've seen "mandatory 20 days," so that might be it. Check with HR, or whatever the equivalent of a Wage and Hour Board is there.

Lolz at my username created just for this post 😂
I’m fairly sure that whilst they can dictate when you take your leave they can’t deny your statutory leave entitlement. A quick google found this from https://landaulaw.co.uk/holidays/;
“Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice towards the end of 2017, your paid holiday entitlement (up to 20 days which is the EU minimum) is not lost- even though the new holiday year starts. Therefore your outstanding paid holiday entitlement can bank up for many years and would be a payment your employer would need to make is still owed when your employment ended. The rationale for this is that you have been prevented from exercising your basic EU rights to minimum paid holiday, and it is actually irrelevant if you have actually asked for the annual leave or not.”

so it might be worth putting something in writing to your manager that if you aren’t able to take your statutory entitlement then should you ever leave the company they will be paying you what you’ve lost for each year, not just what they’ve allowed you to carry over. I’m sure you’ll soon get a response from them or HR 😂

What does it say about your leave entitlement in your employment contract which by law is legally binding on you and your employer and means they have to give it and you have to take it.
if employer not allow time off then they are liable for any injury including physical and mental health you may suffer.
HR knows this and they are trying it on. This is a legitimate grievance under firms complaints policy and if they don’t have complaints policy then they don’t have a leg to stand on.
Join a Union you’re going to need it in this job.

It is OK for an employer to put some restrictions on annual leave, eg during busy business periods; but not to make it impossible to take it at all. They are failing in their duty of care towards you here.

Really, HR should be all over this and ensuring it is sorted out. If they are not then they are a rubbish HR team...not uncommon when the employer is also rubbish.

Is there a recognised union at your workplace and are you a member? Regardless, you should join a union; I think everyone should anyway.

Make sure you keep records of all your attempts to book annual leave, as well as requests for your manager to resolve it. You can raise a formal grievance if attempts to resolve informally fail. Just be aware that, although employees are not supposed to suffer any detriment through raising a legitimate grievance, in practice (and with poor employers) they frequently do.

So longer term I would probably look for a new job. I would be wary of trying to progress your career at this company as they evidently don't give a shit about doing the right thing by their employees.

Just to be a bit pedantic, employers are not required to give you an employment contract. They must provide written terms and conditions of employment which is often in the form of a contract. I'm pretty sure all the banks issue a contract though.

However you frame it, you're putting a target on your back trying to blackmail them like this.

I'm watching with interest as this may be me this year. I've already discreetly alerted HR to the situation and I'm hoping it will get resolved. And while I'm not HR's biggest fan, in this I know they will back the team to the hilt.

This is a nuts system. You are entitled to your leave. Go to your HR.

I don't think you understand what blackmail is.

Sounds like the moment for the strategic flu. Get yourself sorted with some wine and nibbles and hunker down to bingewatch all those programmes you've never had time for. And feel no guilt!

Not only are you not being unreasonable but I'm sure your employer is acting illegally. Go to Citizen Advice and get a legal opinion before you approach your boss.

OP, why are you so resigned and accepting of this? You should be angry! They are taking advantage. Is it a mainly female workforce?

In my country, this would be illegal. They can't deny your leave and then take it away from you. Are you part of a union? This should be escalated to a formal complaint with HR at the very least.

An employer who can't afford to give minimum annual leave it's legally obliged to is not an employer you're going to build a career with anyway.

I wouldn't word it as bluntly as this, rather "I'm concerned that without proper leave, I may be more vulnerable to burnout..."

The OP doesn't need to threaten to go off sick, or actually follow through with a threat. She simply needs to ask for her legally entitled annual leave to be granted and also to be treat the same as her colleagues (she mentions only being able to book one week's leave while others have seven).

If they won't do that, then she needs to talk to her union, or ACAS.

You seem so defeated, as if this leave booking system is all-powerful. It is not. HR or the higher-up managers CAN AND MUST override it for you, and let you book your full leave entitlement, because if they don't, they will be breaking the law.

A lot of employees are made to feel like the company will collapse if they don't come into work when they should be on leave. That is not the case. What will actually happen if your employer ends up being forced to let you take leave on a day that is "inconvenient", because they let too many people buy extra leave when they hadn't even ensured they could cover everyone's statutory entitlement, is: your colleagues might be a bit frazzled (your employer's problem, not yours), they might get behind on some things, piss off some customers, some things won't get done very well (again, your employer's problem, not yours), or (most sensible option) your employer might have to bring in a temp (again, their problem, not yours).

All of this is very much NOT YOUR PROBLEM. If you were hit by a bus, they'd cope, so they can cope with you taking the leave you are LEGALLY ENTITLED TO.

TAKE. YOUR. LEAVE.

But it’s illegal to not let you have your statutory leave. Have you stated this? (Not that you should have to). Start writing everything down, eg requests made and denied.

The fairest way surely is to not allow staff that have already booked their quota of al to buy extra until everyone else in the department has booked theirs?

@HolidayNotAvailable - any update on the situation?