Should people who don’t celebrate Christmas get to have it off work?

[Username638]

Might be a controversial topic, I’m not sure. I work in a small team and there always has to be at least two people in over Christmas. One of the people does not celebrate Christmas due to their religion. They get a week or two off earlier in the year for Eid. Now that it has come to deciding who is having what time off for Christmas, the colleague who doesn’t celebrate it has said he might go for a trip away. I find this unfair really because he has already had his celebration and his time off work. It was a given, he didn’t need to fight over holidays, he just was granted the time off (which is fine obviously, that’s not the issue. I’m just saying he has already had his celebration and now it’s ours).

I don’t think there should be any rules in place that he can’t have any time off over Xmas because I do think it would be unfair and not right. But I just would’ve hoped that he would make the decision off his own back to work Xmas eve, Xmas day and Boxing Day so that those who celebrate it can have it off. I feel like it’s common decency? I did ask what he is up to for Xmas a few weeks ago and he said nothing as he doesn’t celebrate it. But now he’s decided he might go away for the whole week of Christmas and I just find it selfish tbh.

Yes sorry.
It was clumsy.
I worded it wrongly.

Perhaps it's an industry where that isn't possible.

The manager should just get on with sorting the rota on a strictly equitable basis. People's personal circumstances aren't relevant. OP if you and your colleague both want the time off, how he plans to spend that time isn't your business.

Presumably it’s not his turn this year then and it should be granted to someone else?
I’m with you to be fair. If it’s just a days annual leave that he can take anywhere then I would also allow someone who that day was special for to take it. For him it’s a random Wednesday. I’d be tying mine onto a weekend so have a few days break.

Yes! We don’t book time off over Eid. We wouldn’t be allowed to, it would be rejected

How selfish of him. Book your holiday time for over his religious holiday time. Tell him that he took Xmas off so your taking time off and too bad that he has to work during his religious holidays.

Seriously? That’s outrageous! So only people who celebrate Eid are allowed time off at Eid, but anyone can have Christmas off? I’d be taking that up with management.

I don't really see how this is relevant to the point I was making?

Pleas can you read my updates. It’s quite tedious having to say the same things over and over

Yes! We don’t book time off over Eid. We wouldn’t be allowed to, it would be rejected

Is this is the case then you probably have some sort of valid HR or even human rights complaint, OP. Surely this is discrimination.

YADNBU OP. The other guy wants to have his cake and eat it. Very selfish.

Would you really not be allowed to take time off at eid?

Maybe ask for a copy of the process for annual leave decisions and on what basis decisions are made, including over all religious festivals

OP, are you absolutely sure he doesn't think the day is significant at all? If so then YANBU.

I ask this because I celebrate Eid, always have done, but I was born here as were my parents, and we go all out for Christmas. It's still a very special day for us, spent with family, just as it is for everyone else (accepting that any practicing Christians will have an extra layer of importance attributed to the day).

I'd hate for anyone to think I was less deserving of time off at Christmas just because I also celebrated Eid that year. Especially now that I'm married into a practicing Catholic family. We take both sets of holidays very seriously now 😊

The pagan bits aren’t tied to the 25th Dec. ;)

It would be rejected because we are only allowed one person off at any time. So because he has the AL over this period, we can’t book it. Over Xmas it’s quieter so more people can have it off but two people still need to be in. I’m not sure id have any grounds and tbh I wouldn’t want to do that anyway, I’m not absolutely fuming about this. I am just a bit disappointed that he isn’t thinking about others and doing the decent thing

So unfair! Grow up.

Indeed. God forbid there are also some black Christians in the team.... I wonder if they also have to give up their Christmas day for the "white people"...

OP has already said one of them has to be in over Christmas. She’s not comparing it to Eid - he will have taken annual leave for that, but if he deferred to OP at Christmas he would still be credited with the bank holidays.

I think you work in my office
We have exactly this same situation, and I feel exactly the same as you. My colleagues have Eid off, as that's their celebration (they even describe it as "our Christmas") one colleague then works over Xmas (we have to use our annual leave at Xmas)
The other, every year, says they want Xmas off, as they go on holiday with their cousin, and that's when cousin has longest stretch of annual leave.
It annoys me every year that they have Xmas off too, and it forces someone else to work it (colleague is very forceful and vocal and manages to wangle getting Xmas off as well as Eid)
You are not alone in your annoyance

What about Easter and other religious festivals what is the process then?

And what is the process for allowing time off for eid, does someone have yo prove they are practising?

This is very odd and I would definitely ask to see the written policy and process

OP

I don't think you have actually posted to hear others opinions but to validate your own (which we are all guilty of at times I guess!).

Your premise is he is being selfish (whether he had Eid off or not is neither here nor there).

I don't celebrate Xmas but it's the one time of the year all my siblings come back home and we get to spend extended time together as a family as that's the time everyone including the kids are off. Religiously, we are absolutely not celebrating Xmas but we have a family meal including a roast and all the trimmings, watch the now kings speech, play games and try to avoid a family fight. Sounds like most peoples xmas' to me.

So whilst I'm saying I'm doing nothing, I am indeed having family time.

Your issue lies with manager to distribute Xmas holidays fairly year by year. If he had it last year, then he doesn't get first dibs this year etc. but same applies to everyone.

If you really want something then you have to ask for it. So ask the person in question if they will give it up for you.
Out of curiosity are there other people in the team that aren't 'doing anything' (or just chilling out with family) that you have umbrage with or just him?

The older single man had as much right to choose as anyone else.

You seem determined to make this about your colleague. It's not.

It's about your manager doing a shitty job of handling holiday rotas.
It's about your workplace being open over Christmas.
It's about you choosing a job that requires work at Christmas.

Those are three fights you could legitimately be having, and none of them are with your Muslim colleague.

I wonder. If your colleague never took time off at Christmas, you would then grumble about them 'not integrating' with British cultural traditions.

A lot of British brown people see Christmas as culturally significant, too. Especially the Christian ones...

But this year he has plans so he is just as entitled as everyone else to ask for that time off.

I agree with you. It's the decent thing to do.

I celebrate and love Christmas but in my early years as an immigrant here, with family far away, I would always volunteer to be on-call on Christmas Day so that others could have the day off with their families. I did have options like orphans' Christmas events and I was sometimes invited to share with other families - which would have been very lovely but realistically I knew that those were less important to me than Christmas with actual families and close friends were to my colleagues. So I volunteered to cover it, tried to make things as nice for myself as possible around it, and picked up a lot goodwill from my colleagues.