Can an employer require a 4 weeks notice of Annual Leave

[Marabou]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping someone might be able to offer some advice here..

My DHs employer requires him to give a 4 weeks advance notice every time he wishes to take annual leave. He has been planning to take some annual leave when our DS is born straight after the paternity leave, but we're worried that his request will be refused, if he submits it right after the baby is born, as he will only take 1 week paternity leave and obviously would not be able to give 4 weeks notice.

From the direct.gov.uk-website I understood that an employer can require a notice, which is "at least twice as long as the amount of holiday you want to take. For example, you should give two weeks' notice for one week's holiday." So I was a bit confused as to whether my DHs employer's rules are really legal..

Thanks for any comments!

If it is in his contract then I think they can do whatever they want.

get him to take ONE week as soon as you go into labour. This will require two weeks notice, which paternity leave will fulfil.

The as soon as he has put that request in, get him to put another one in to run straight from the last one, or with a day back at work. This will also have enough time (the 'double the holiday' requirement) to go through

If it's in his contract then it's within their rights.

However, his employer may be sympathetic for what is effectively extended paternity leave - can he speak to his manager and see if they will be a bit more flexible given the circumstances?

Many companies set out their requirements in terms of notice for leave in their contracts or their policies.

They can decline a holiday request if they need to (I've both had this done to me, and done it to others).

However if they continuously decline, then they are preventing him taking it unreasonably

Could he not have a word with his manager and see if they would be ok with what he wants, bearing in mind it's impossible to predict the birth date?

When I have had our babies DH's paternity leave as started as soon as I have gone into labour with him going in to work for a few hours during the first week to sort anything out to enable him to have 2 weeks off.

Many thanks for your responses, much appreciated!

I suppose DH could try and talk to his employer but unfortunately his employer is extremely inflexible and it was already difficult to get the paternity leave request through.. I think the period of notice is in DH's employee handbook and this would then make it part of his contract so that's that then .

But your husband can take two weeks paternity leave by law. So if he booked holiday a week before you were due, at the very worst, you'd be on your own for a week before he was off on holiday again

Unfortunately DH feels we can only afford for him to take 1 week and that's why he was hoping he could take a week of annual leave straight after.. I suppose he could request it three weeks before due date and if the baby then comes early, he'd be back at work for a few days before going on annual leave..

He's stuck with his terms, then, I guess. Can he really not have a word and ask if they could make an exception?

It should not be difficult to get statutory paternity request 'through' - it is against the law to refuse it!

I know! they were acting like it was going to be so difficult to let him go at that particular time, as there were so many others on annual leave around the same time..He'll try and ask them, but it wouldn't surprise me if they just refused the annual leave ..