Want a holiday but 16 year old can’t get leave

[Irishmama100]

So my 16 year old has a retail job, 8 hour contract and has been refused leave for when we went to go on our summer holiday. Can’t leave them at home on their for 11 nights

1)I am unreasonable - I should just scrap the idea and no one in the family gets a holiday.
2) I am not being unreasonable - I Should just book it anyway and they can quit and get another job

You’d just ring in sick for those 8 hours surely?

They can but then they don’t get a holiday. A 16 year old who is in school full time and works should be able to have a holiday to relax and have fun at some point over the summer. She is bound to school holidays so doesn’t have that much flexibility.

Surely a big issue here is that the 16yo can't independently get to work - they rely on their parents for transport.

So it's not as straightforward as "Oh just leave them at home for the week".

Work can't really expect the parents not to go on holiday just because they haven't granted holiday to the 16yo. And yes theoretically the 16yo should take responsibility for organising their own transport but in reality they're too young to drive and in a rural area with limited public transport, what can work really expect from them?

This was my sister and I when we were teens. We had evening jobs (different days) in a large supermarket, 4 hours a week.

Management said no to a fortnight's hol. We just suggested we would quit and they let us have the leave. Too much faff to recruit.

I'm 42 and would consider leaving my job if i couldn't get leave for something important. I know I have skills that mean I could easily get a new job if needed. Life is for living, go on the holiday!

I'm wondering if this is Waitrose, where this also happened to my dd16. I was gutted. But then she tried for a different week and got it, so we readjusted our plans to fit the week she got.

Agree they are being ridiculous.

It's one day - he could be sick.

Book and tell him to blame you.

"It didn't occur to my parents that you really wouldn't be able to give me one shift / 8 hours off, so they went ahead and booked. Me staying home alone is not an option - my parents wouldn't allow it and I rely on them to get me to work. I am really sorry and will make the time up on my return".

Having given everything to a retail job in my teens, worked my way up, slaved away to arsehole managers and an even bigger arsehole owner (Arcadia) paid minimum wage and constantly treated like shit but I was a stupid teen - absolutely quit and get another job! 100% isn’t worth it! I WISH I had quit and left those arseholes to be arses. If I could go back I would!

If she wants 5-6 weeks holiday then she needs to give up her job. No where does it suggest she is doing this though. If she just wants 1/2 weeks, the holidays from school are probably 6 weeks, so that gives 5 two-week combinations or 6 individual weeks to chose from. If she had not got the job when the holiday was booked, then work should honour it, if not then she should have booked her leave before the holiday was booked. It's all very well saying she doesn't have that much flexibility, but she has just as much as any other worker who has a school aged child, is studying, has a spouse working in education, has responsibility for or wants to go away with, school aged children (a grandparent, aunty, childminder etc).

Quitting a retail job at 16 when employed is being unreasonable is hardly bad work ethics. Teach her to stand up against dick head line managers and their unreasonable treatment.

Basically a lot of employers are bullies. Instead of empathising with reasonable requests for leave, they prioritise their own convenience. They absolutely deserve the more major inconvenience of a recruitment drive. Arseholes.

Can they get a colleague to cover their shift and just take it as unpaid?

I meant she only has about 6 weeks that she could go on holiday so if her employer doesn’t give any of those then she can’t go on holiday. Allowing a weekend in September for example is not any use for enabling a holiday

Could it be they way they asked 'holiday days' ( paid,) v's don't put me on rostar for the following days?
Anyhow I'd be pretty sure the kid will get the job back when they return after two weeks.
Sure at that age there are other not scheduled to work during exams.
Go for holiday and enjoy this one time will not impact their work ethic

Really ? Great role modelling

If 16yo DD's presence is sufficiently strategic to this retail business that they can't miss her for 11 days, she should be getting paid about 4x what she's likely on. If she was something like head of UK logistics operations and wanted to take the first 24 days of December off, then the company might have a point. Otherwise they need to be more flexible with their rostering.

So I would be inclined to call their bluff. If they terminate her then DD will very likely walk into another job tomorrow (or perhaps after the holidays) and either way she will have learned some valuable lessons. Your first couple of years at work are like your first few months after you pass your driving licence, it's inevitable that there will be a few scratches and dents.

However... this may not be easy to sell to DD. Most of us here have some degree of hardened noses towards the employment relationship, but at 16 it can be difficult to be defiant of a form of authority, especially if DD is otherwise a diligent and respectful person.

I certainly would not recommend advising her to call in sick, partly because work presumably already knows her dates, and partly because it is not a good example to set.

Ring in sick

We had exactly the same situation last year. My daughter spoke to management and said all the family are going and asked if she could have it unpaid so they could pay overtime to get someone else to work it. That was refused. In the end we went, she rang on the journey and said I’m not coming in, we’re going on holiday. The manager said he was expecting her to do that and they would have a meeting after the holiday to see how to proceed. At the meeting everything was fine and they said to give more notice next time. Shes a good worker and they didn’t want to lose her. When it’s 8 hours it’s ridiculous. We advised against calling in sick as there is more likelihood of being sacked if you aren’t trustworthy.

did they ask again?

Nobody o their death bed is going to be regretting that they eschewed a holiday in favour of work.

We had this with my DC he left rather than miss a family holiday. We were very happy he came with us, a fear we don’t have many holidays left with him. He was a well respected worker, seemed silly on the restaurants part.

Oh FGS. Tell them to quit the job and go on holiday.

Nobody cares about a gap on a 16 year olds cv.

Wow thanks for your responses everyone. I am delighted to stay that they approached the Manager again and stated that they would struggle to get to work if we are away - No public transport and obviously at 16 they do not drive. So they agreed to the leave. So holiday is booked.

When making the approach they did offer extra availability to cover for others over the summer months.

I have zero concerns about their work ethic or setting a bad example or that I am corrupting them to be a lazy entitled brat because they had the audacity to dare request time off well in advance. I am glad they had the balls to ask again.

Think this manager has real issue with granting leave, seems like a power trip and its like they are getting a "special favour" in getting leave. Wasn't ok two weeks ago but now it is all fine!.

I am so glad that 90% of people agreed that I was not being unreasonable.

Yes -and got the leave!!