Taking accrued annual leave on return to work from mat leave

[AuntieBacterial]

I return to work next month after 12months maternity leave and my thoughts recently turned to how I am going to take the accrued 23 days leave before the end of the year. I like to have things nailed down and planned out in advance so I proposed taking nearly half of the days in a block directly tagged on to the end of my maternity leave, 3 days over Xmas and the remaining 8 days as one day a week between Oct and Dec. I proposed taking every weds, because I thought it would be easier if my boss knew that I wouldn't be there on a Weds rather than having to look in my calendar every week to work out when I am around. But there's no reason it has to be a set day - I can be flexible.

My employer has responded to say they will only permit me to take leave in blocks (of 5 days presumably) either directly after my maternity leave or over Xmas. No incidental days will be granted.

Where do I stand on this, any ideas? I can appreciate that they might not want me to take 1 day every week for 8 weeks so I am happy to be flexible. I could take 2 days one week and none for the following weeks for example. But I do want to space my leave out and not go for 10 weeks without any leave. As any other employee could reasonably expect to do.

I know leave is granted at an employers discretion but can they really refuse to let me take any individual days for pretty non-specific reasons when everyone else can take individual days as they wish? All I am asking is to be allowed to take leave in the same way as my colleagues and they will all be taking individual days off over the same period of time.

It's not my fault that I have accrued leave during mat leave and I need to take it all over a period of 3 months. I am being made to feel like the leave I have accrued isn't proper annual leave and extra rules are being applied to restrict how I can take it. Doesn't seem fair to me. But maybe you all see it differently.

I'd be grateful for some ideas about what I should do next.

I took most of mine immediately after maternity leave ran out - ie: before I'd gone back to work, and reserved a few days for emergencies. I didn't use these, and then just took them as a block.

I can see your employers point of view - your sugguestion makes you virtually part time for a few months, which may not be sustainable with your work. Blocks of time and "genuine" part time is much easier to manage from an employers point of view. You say "Everyone else can take individual days as they wish" - are you sure? Would they be allowed to take a day a week for several months? Really? Would be very odd. If this is the case, then you really are being treated differently, but I suspect your boss just wants you back doing your job!

I work for the civil service and am expected to take most of my accrued leave before I return to work, however at manager's discretion we are allowed to use it to phase in a return to work.

You surely won't go 10 weeks without leave as as soon as you are back you will start accruing leave again then presumably all normal rules apply?

BikeRunSki I understand your point and I can understand my employer might not want me to take a day a week for a short period of time, but there's no requirement that leave is taken in a 5 day block and in the past I have been able to take 2 days a week or 3 or 4 days a month as incidental days without any problems at all, which was my point. Other colleagues will be taking the odd couple of days a month over this period of time to use up their leave before Jan. And as I said, that's all I am asking to do too. I am happy to take 3 or 4 days a month whenever suits my employer.

MassiveBumperlicious - I really will be going 10 weeks without any leave. My allocation for the year is 23 days so if I can only take them over Xmas and tagged on to the end of my mat leave, that will really leave me with no days to take for those 10 weeks.

They can tell you exactly when to take the leave, so if I were you I would be grateful that they are giving you options.

Yes but are you talking about the leave you have accrued while on maternity leave? If so then that is fair enough, they don't want someone coming back from maternity leave for a week or two then buggering off again for a month. But surely you should be allowed to take your normal annual leave during that period, just as any other employee would otherwise I would imagine that is discrimination.

Lougle, maybe I am just being unreasonable, but in my eyes I should be entitled to take my annual leave in the same way everyone else is. If nobody else is permitted to take any time off between the beginning of Oct and Xmas then I am happy for the same rule to apply to me. Clearly everyone else is not being restricted in that way though.

MassiveBumperlicious, the leave is basically my entitlement for 2010. I have been on ML from 1 Jan to mid Sept so the 23 days are my allocation for this leave year - so my normal annual leave. Because I have been on ML I just only have 3 months to take all my leave in. I agree with you that I should be allowed to take my normal annual leave just as anyone else would be able to when I return to work. Thanks for the moral support , for a minute there I was feeling like I was being off the scale unreasonable...

OP- I think it's your request to take lots of little bits of holiday that has triggered this and, tbh, I think that that's reasonable.

If you were a normal employee, sure you could take odd days, but you probably, over the course of the year, only have a week or so of leave you would take this way. The rest would be taken in longer blocks (summer holiday, Christmas, etc). You are asking to take 8 days as odd days, which is quite disruptive in as short a time as three months.

How about a compromise? Tack a bit more holiday on the end of maternity leave, 3 days over Christmas, block 3 or 4 days off in, say, late October/early November (so you know you've got a break) and keep one or two days in reserve for emergencies. See if they would buy that?

I would think if the rule that you can't take single days is being applied to you then they would have to be applying it to everyone. My boss tried to introduce this rule but was stopped by HR so it may be worth you asking your HR dept (if there is one) what is the policy RE taking single holiday days and how it applies to the whole workforce.

That's true if they are saying the OP can't take any odd days, but I suspect that what has happened is that a reasonable request has been clumsily framed.

Essentially, in the Oct-Dec period, everyone else might only take one or two days in odd days, but the OP is asking to take 8. It's therefore not treating her less beneficially to limit her to taking roughly the same number of 'odd' days as anyone else, only if they ban that entirely. That's why I suggested the compromise idea.

RibenaBerry thanks for your sensible advice! I am happy to be flexible but there are a couple of occasions where I will need to take the odd day of leave in November and December.

I can understand the refusal of taking the same day every week for 8 weeks I really can, what I am baulking at is being told I may not take any incidental leave, leave must be taken in blocks at Xmas or at the end of my mat leave. So yes I am happy to go back and suggest a compromise and see what they say. But if they refuse me any individual days point blank then I will have to take things further.