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

I was under the impression that under 18's have to be given time off for a family holiday.

If you’re going to save £1500 you’d be better off her handing in here notice and you paying her 😂 I know you don’t want this because of work ethic…. But one of the best lessons she can learn at this stage is how to handle a shit manager. She’s going to miss one or two shifts- any business can cope without a 16 year old for 2 shifts- they’re just being a dick.

I'd be writing or emailing the manager today.

Tell them she's technically a child so you are getting involved as her parent.

Tell them you are booking a holiday and you are informing them that your daughter won't be in these dates. Give them the dates.

I'd also point out that if they don't approve her leave she has no means to get into work as she's too young to drive and there is no public transport whilst you are away.

So she either gets leave and comes back refreshed and ready to work some extra shifts after her last family holiday or she doesn't get leave and is remaining at home without transport so she still won't be in work as you are away and can't transport her.

Bat it back to them.

Do not do this OP. Let them manage it. If they're old enough to be employed they are old enough to be treated like an adult. Don't contact their employer.

Yes this, I know they should be committed blah blah but if they want to you can't force them but just hand in notice.

Oh god don't contact them yourself that's ridiculous let your Dc handle it.

It’s an eight-hour contract, equivalent to a Saturday job. Nobody is going to give a shit about ‘the gap in their CV’ between Saturday jobs even if they do go into full time work at 18.

It's hardly a gap on their CV when they are 16 and on an 8 hour per week contract!

Quit the job . Bpok. Enjoy

Jeeeeeeesus H Christ, do not do this. It’s work, not school. I’m cringing myself inside out.

My dc were in and out of 8 hour jobs at that age they didn't even mention them on CVs

@Irishmama100

They can’t get leave to the end of August - it will be roasting where we want to go. 1.5k more expensive, busier time for my business. They won’t even earn that over the summer. The more I say these things out loud to myself the more I think I know the answer - we are just going to go!

Good decision for all these reasons!

No need for your child to even mention their 8hr job on their CV in future. I did loads of extracurricular jobs in my youth, both when still a student and extra even in full time employment to support myself, the majority of which never appeared on my CV, and never negatively impacted me. 🌹

I run a business and I'd be doing a terrible job if a 16 year old being in for 8 hours would make or break the business. I have plenty of extra cover around staff holidays and this would not be an issue. No one is saying they are monsters, but they do sound incredibly inept.

Do NOT do this OP - you will make your child unemployable in their home town - news soon gets round high street employers, especially in small towns.

Don't ever get involved with a child's job (unless there is some major safeguarding issue or similar) - it's a huge red flag to any employer and massively embarrassing to your child.

Say to the 16 yr old to say to the boss that the family holiday is booked and unfortunately they will have to give notice as they can't get the time off.
If the company back pedal great if not they have been polite and worked notice

If they can’t take leave could they not find someone to cover their shift instead?

There's no way I would have left my son at home for a week on his own at 16.

In this situation I'd either do what @Imnoonesfool did, or just book to go away from Sunday to Friday if it's a Saturday job.

Do NOT do this OP - you will make your child unemployable in their home town - news soon gets round high street employers, especially in small towns

yeah right

I do agree not getting involved as a parent though. But it's really not true that all the retail staff get together and bitch! Life is too short.

I get work ethic but if you are thinking this would be a potential last hurrah holiday then I'd say that at her age that's a good reason to leave the job. My other thought is that if the company can't sort out giving an 8 hour 16YO employee time off, then do they deserve to get the benefit of yout DD's work ethic? Personally (and I am 70) I am in the camp of "work to live" rather than "live to work" Yes employers are entitled to value for their money but as the old saying goes, no one sits around at the end of their lives wishing they had worked more and spent less time with loved ones.

How is he this morning?

Bumps on foreheads always look worse I think.

I was told though via A&E to make sure you can stir them every hour or so after, so moving his arm to see if moves etc.

Wrong thread sorry

As a retail manager I can see why it’s possible their leave may have been declined.

My team on an 8 hour contract would be doing 2x 4 hour shifts a week. We need a certain number of the team in in order to trade.
If I have already authorised 2 other peoples holiday for the same week, then I would be refusing any further requests for the same week as we wouldn’t have enough staff to cover.

However, as a parent I wouldn’t want to fork out so much more money to go another week or miss out on a family holiday because I couldn’t afford to change dates all because my 16 year old couldn’t get time off work.

She doesn't have to quit. She needs to tell them that you have booked it and that she's going. Up to them then whether they keep her on or not

Don't do this.

The single most important part of a 16 year old having a p/t job like this is learning to navigate the world of work for themselves. It is not school. They don't need a letter from mum.

If I were the employer I would wonder why I had given your DC the job in the first place if they don't have the communication skills to at least try to handle this themselves. It would put me off employing other 16 year olds.

The transport thing may well not even be true so you are suggesting lying to an employer for your child to get their own way.

@labamba007 And if all the part timers you employ to cover busy Saturdays or peak times don't turn up one week because 'it's only 8 hours and it doesn't matter'?

Seems like a bizarre set up to employ people you don't actually need to work.

I manage a team and 2 people being off at once is manageable. 3 starts to be a struggle for the others to cover everything. More than 3 and the department can function at a skeleton level but customers would start to notice the drop off in service and targets / deadlines would suffer.

If I could happily have 4 staff off together with no discernible impact on the business then I'd be over staffed and wasting money.