Employer cancelling leave for office staff whilst colleagues furloughed

[Muppetry76]

Asking for a friend -

M has been working throughout covid. Attempted wfh in the first few weeks but was impossible from a business perspective so returned to office, all measures in place etc. 2 other colleagues in, rest furloughed due to decline in business,however workload increased for M massively due to others not being in. Holiday booked for August abroad. Employer saying all leave is cancelled indefinitely (despite having furloughed staff that could be swapped in, non critical job, no business reasons). 80% of colleagues been sat at home since April whilst M has not had any time off since Feb.

Can employer force colleague to cancel leave and refuse to unfurlough another colleague to cover them in these circumstances? Don't even start on the quarantine issue - boss has already commented/stipulated that should leave be allowed, M will be a huge risk and must quarantine upon return no matter what the government advice is at the time, which they're trying to use against M.

Any advice please? TIA

Employer can determine when holidays are taken and can cancel leave with appropriate notice. Quarantine would be effectively telling them to take more holiday leave. I think they're being very unfair but not technically doing anything wrong. Should your friend decide to quit because of this unfairness they would have a tribunal case.

Yes, an employer can cancel leave provided they give at least as much notice as the length of the leave being cancelled. They do not have to take other employees off furlough to cover. The only restriction is that they cannot cancel if it means you will not be able to take your full statutory leave entitlement. However, it is normal in such situations for the employer to refund any travel costs that aren't covered by travel insurance.

An employer is entitled to require a worker to stay away from the office after taking holiday abroad (or, indeed, at any other time). They can insist that the employee works from home or takes annual leave. They may, however, be on dodgy ground if they insist on the employee taking unpaid leave.

This is a duplicate thread now.

Should your friend decide to quit because of this unfairness they would have a tribunal case

Only if the employer prevents them from taking their full statutory leave entitlement. Otherwise, cancelling an employee's leave or forcing them to take leave does not give rise to a claim however unfair you may think it is unless you can show that the employer's decisions are linked to a protected characteristic.

Your friend could quit and try to make a claim but in my view they would lose.

we are not really allowed to cancel leave currently, we need to take leave, as regards time off for quarantine afterwards, that is a different scenario

They can do it but they're shoring up massive problems for themselves in terms of fulfilling people's annual leave. It's likely people will also end up off sick with stress due to burn out.