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.

Good suggestions upthread about regarding the law and minimum leave. I'd also call the ICO helpline as I think this is an example of automated decision making that affects you and therefore you have rights under data protection legislation to have any automated decisions reviewed by a person. In the past (as a DP practitioner) I've found the helpline staff very good, so worth trying. Their website is also very good - and it's the automated decisions aspect I'd be looking at.

Join a union immediately.

Yes that’s true but it includes the 8 bank holidays. So for the majority of people it’s 20 days that you can choose and 8 bank holidays

However I did say majority, not all. Some people work on hours rather than days so bank holidays may not count, some don’t recognise bank holidays because of the nature of their role which is why they will get 28 of their own choosing as a minimum and some people get the choice to work on a bank holiday so they can add the day to their “own choice” pile

As PP have said, by law they have to give you leave and while they can control dates to some extent, not if that means you can't take it at all. "Computer says no" would not be an answer if you went to the Employment Tribunal.

See below. If you have an HR Department take it up with them.

www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights

I think it’s complicated by the fact that we all work shifts.

So my hours can be anywhere between 8 in the morning until 8 at night, which means there’s potential for an overlap.

So let’s say I’m working from 12-8, the quota left to be allowed time off is 7. So if someone extra s on an 8-4 shift, and has that day off, my day off will be declined because four of their hours off overlap with four hours that i want.

Then you need to escalate this. Back to your line manager cc’ing in whoever heads up the hated department. You have had all your leave requests declined. You are entitled to x number of days off and would like at least one week in a block. There doesn’t seem to be any dates you can book so to avoid the company failing to meet their minimum legal requirements of your employment, can they inform you which weeks you can book off. Obviously if this is going to be a continuous problem of the company failing to meet its legal obligations as an employer over leave, the company really needs to change the leave system.

if your line manager keeps saying their hands are tied, ask to speak to their manager. This isn’t ok and the person heading up the hated department needs to realise they are failing.

Your line manager is tied by the law though.
They have to approve your holiday it’s not a choice for them. And no they can’t not buy it off you either.

go to HR

Btw - do you work in the health service? You need to speak to your union rep.

My line manager is sympathetic but her hands are tied.

Her hands may be tied as in she can’t approve certain days leave on the system but it’s not good enough for her to just basically say ‘not my problem’. She should be supporting you with the relevant department.

start getting everything in writing OP.

You need to write an email to your manager and anyone else whose business it is, outlining the law around annual leave and telling them to come back with dates you can take as you are unable to book anything in the system, otherwise you will be contacting a solicitor.

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.

That’s an odd decision!

Bank holidays are complicated - we have to work three out of five bank holidays and then Christmas and Boxing Day plus New Year’s Day are put out for overtime at a higher rate than usual so there are generally enough people in need of the money that they never have to make people work them.

Your shift patterns are irrelevant.

As other have said you are legally entitled to time off. Speak to you HR department or your line managers manager and escalate.

Please do not accept this system or allow them to buy back leave (which is probably highly unlikely)
Also speak to HR about how days off are allocated - you say the "window for booking" opens in December - but is it a free-for-all or are people allowed into the system in seniority order or something?? Sounds like this is likely to happen again next year so they need to have a system in place to allow everyone their time off in a fair manner. Sometimes you can only book bought time off AFTER everyone else has booked their leave for example.

So people buy extra leave which means other can’t take their minimum?
Or they buy extra and can’t take it all? Do they just lose the money?

Your line manager has to address it.

That's their job!

Put it in writing and ask her for a HR response to the matter.

No I work for a bank.

You are still entitled to your AL regardless of shift work. This is for your workplace to sort.

Plenty of workplaces involve shift work and are still able to meet their legal requirements. It sounds like you have been proactive trying to book leave so I really would argue this.

Bank holidays are complicated -
But the law isn't.
You need to take your AL and they need to be told.

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.

Are you seriously going to just stand there and take that ?
Work solidly for a year with no time off? Why wont you stand up for your human rights?
Why would you volunteer to basically be their slave?
I'm genuinely asking..

Ask your union to step in. If you’re not in a union then join on. It isn’t hard.

Although you really don’t need to; you have a voice. Use it. Open your mouth and speak; you’re an adult and they must give you your annual leave.

Have a look at ACAS for legal advice.
https://www.acas.org.uk/checking-holiday-entitlement/asking-for-and-taking-holiday

Their helpline is helpful if you don’t get anywhere escalating this internally

If your line manage thinks it's OK to say it's oneof those things, she's not fit to do the job and you need to speak to her manager.

Get your union involved if need be. It's not unusual to have rules around how many can be off at once, but they need to work with no. days leave due v no. days in the year!

They need to give you your entitlement, it’s quite simple.

No, your line managers hands aren’t tied. It’s their job to help find a solution.

Have you spoken to anyone about it, is it because you’re trying to book specific weeks off when there’s no leave available?

This is rediculous.

They are legally obligated to give you 28 days holiday per year.

This is NOT negotiable and you HAVE to be allowed to have all 28 days, and not carry any over.

If you are not in a union join one right now.

Then next week request the holiday you actually want...... and when its all denied TELL you manager that you WILL be taking holiday, point out theirs none left, ask what she is going to do about it.

If she cant do anything she needs to go to her manager etc etc......

Saying no you cant have any annual leave is simply not acceptable (and nor should you be forced to take it all in november / january etc either)

Keep going higher until its sorted and if they wont get your union involved and it will be sorted.

What sort of system are they using that doesn't allow people their annual leave and also let's people buy more leave before others have taken their leave. That is so wrong.

And it doesn’t help to have everyone’s annual leave starting from the same date. When you contact HR suggest that each employee’s A/L starts from their birthday or date of employment.