Not allowed to take any holiday in June at work

[exhaustedandwholly]

Due to the nature of my job, we have a lot of events happening in June which I help organise etc. I've requested a few days in June for a holiday and they've been declined and been told we cannot request any time in June due to how busy it will be. It frustrates me because this is the only time we can really go away before summer holidays start otherwise July is too expensive (we haven't got kids) and may isn't hot enough in most places.

Does anyone else have these issues?!

I can only take holiday in January and August....one of the reasons im looking for another job.

Now that is restrictive! What industry is it? Or are the company just difficult!

The first half of July is usually a bit cheaper.

Not sure why you are insistent that people will get found out for a few days off sick when actually on holiday.
If people are doing it they are not putting it all over their social media and there is absolutely no other way to find it out.
Manager doesn't need to believe you are ill as they cant do anything about it.

It's fairly standard in all sorts of jobs.
Anyone that works in schools, for example.
Accountants at the end of the tax year.
Farmers during lambing
Retail in December.

YABU. You have 11 months of the year you can choose to go away.

My DC2's half term was the WEEK AFTER reading week, to add insult to injury.

Pretty common for holidays to be restricted/ banned during certain times, depending on business need.
why not go end of May? Not much difference weather wise to June inmost places

I’d look for another job

And some jobs don't permit any leave In e.g. december for retail. Is this a new thing? And If it is that busy, it's fair enough. You request, they can decline

Of course you can't take leave when you have responsibilities for organising events.
School holidays start in late July, can't you go in early July when it's still cheaper? If you're thinking the Med, it's still hot first week of September - and usually all the way through the month.

All my holiday is allocated to me apart from 5 days which I can book outside of blackout dates (mid Nov - mid Jan, 2 weeks before Easter & school holidays)

That is one month of the 12! Don't be ridiculous. School staff manage without being able to book holidays in July, august, December, April and all the half terms!

It is annoying but legally nothing you can do. Surely doesn’t make that much difference if you go last week of May or first week in July? Or even early September - we used to live going on holiday then before we had DC

The fact OP has asked for leave and had it declined, then goes sick on the same dates? The fact she’ll come back with a tan?

Don’t do it you’ll be found out for sure! 🤣

I'm sure you can manage to avoid 1 month out of a possible 12. First week of July is considerably cheaper than school holidays & there's post school break in September which is lovely throughout Europe. Now you've asked & been turned down for AL I think you'd be very foolish to pull a sickie.

It's not unusual for an employer to restrict when annual leave is taken.

For us, it's October and February, which tricky with half terms

Well they're not, but I think you know that.
OP was asking whether anyone has the same issue not for solutions.

It is not uncommon and perfectly legal for companies to restrict when holidays can be taken if they have peak periods.

If you don't like it your only options is to lump it or find a job where they don't have a peak time in June.

Don't follow the suggestions to pull a sickie, not worth the risk. What happens if you bump into someone on holiday or at the airport? Or if your work needs you to phone in every day and spots the international dial tone. Do you really want fired under gross misconduct..

Fair enough, June is their busy time. Go in September, usually has the best weather

We are pretty flexible in my place of work. None the less, we are advised to give as much notice as possible. It sounds like you knew you would to go away in June so you could have booked this holiday months and months ago. Or would have still have been rejected because you are needed for these events.

If the latter then they need to have something in place in case you are off for other reasons - unwell, family emergency.

We ask our staff not to request leave in December as they're off from Christmas Eve onwards and it's our busiest trading period. One always like to push their luck but the rest are always fine with it. I'd love to know how a business is supposed to trade with all these sickies being pulled - you do realise a drop in trade means no job?!

Definitely don't call in sick. Not sure why people are saying you wouldn't get found out as usually people who lie about something big do get caught. If you go somewhere warm and come back with a tan it would be fairly obvious you haven't been ill and laid up in bed. You might also require a sick note if off any length of time. Also what if work happened to call you to check in on you and you didn't answer? Or your phone did a funny dial tone. It would also be quite obvious now you have asked for time off in June and were declined if you just so happened to be ill that week. I think it's crazy how willing people are to suggest something that could cause you to face disciplinary action.
The start of September is usually a great time to go on holiday as you can guarantee as soon as school goes back the sun comes out if it has been a miserable summer.

All the pull a sickie posts are exactly the reason this country is fucked. It’s hardly the greatest hardship ever known that you can’t go on holiday for one month in the year when you’re involved in a lot of work events – plenty of places you can go in May where the weather will be fantastic.

I work in hospitality

"Their holidays are not your Holidays "

Ie we don't get any holidays during school holidays, Easter, Christmas, Mothering Sunday etc

is there really going to be that much difference in the last week of may compared to first week or two of june?

tbh I was sitting in the garden in shorts and t shirts yesterday in this country at about 16 degrees. As long as it's sunny how hot do you need it? Is the extra 2 or 3 degrees between mid to late 20s in somewhere like, say, Tenerife going to make or ruin a holiday?

as long as you have sufficient time to take your leave, limiting one month isn't unreasonable.

pulling a sicky now after you've already asked is just going to look suspicious.