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Original poster

Annual leave and staff meetings

18 replies

OnionKnight · 27/02/2017 12:36

Hi, I have a quick question about annual leave and staff meetings outside of working hours.

My wife has booked off this Thursday for a hospital appointment, this was booked months ago (before Christmas). Last week she was told by her manager that they are having a staff meeting outside of work hours on Thursday evening and that she is required to attend. This has understandably annoyed my wife as she was looking forward to having Thursday to herself after her appointment but now she has to commute to work to sit in a staff meeting (unpaid) for two hours before finally getting home again at 21:00.

She wonders where she stands on this, the manager has basically said tough shit and that if she's not on holiday etc then she is required to attend.

OP posts:
Hereward1332 · 27/02/2017 12:49

Has she booked it off as annual leave, or some form of medical leave?

Original poster
OnionKnight · 27/02/2017 12:51

She has definitely booked it as annual leave, otherwise she'd have to go to work after the appointment.

OP posts:
marriednotdead · 27/02/2017 13:32

Have had my own issues with a similar set up before. Two things have since been clarified and I can't see any way your wife's company can differ.

  1. Compulsory time at work has to be paid by law.
  1. Annual leave exempts you from staff meetings. What if she had booked the day off to travel a long distance to visit someone for example? If they've granted her leave request then they cannot demand she comes in.
Original poster
OnionKnight · 27/02/2017 13:35

That's what I thought married, another colleague has been excused because they are going to a gig that night and so I thought it doesn't matter if my wife is spending her annual leave watching paint dry, she's on annual leave and they can't demand that she goes in.

OP posts:
fairweathercyclist · 27/02/2017 15:18

How can you be asked to go in (and out of hours to boot) when you've booked AL? She should say no, she's on AL and it's not convenient. She's already booked AL for a hospital appt when she need not have done, so she's already done her employer a favour.

Unless she's in the sort of job where you are expected to work 12 hour days for no extra £££ because it's that kind of role eg city lawyers. In that case, I guess it depends how career limiting she thinks it woul dbe not to attend.

I work part-time and routinely work outside my hours eg for all-team meetings. But I choose to do that and it is only a few times a year. Not when I have booked AL though.

LightastheBreeze · 27/02/2017 17:38

I would just say that you had made other arrangements , so tough. I had this once when I was expected to go to a staff meeting after work and I just told them I was busy that evening watching telly and I wouldn't be going. The boss just looked at me open mouthed but it was after work time so couldn't do anything.

prh47bridge · 27/02/2017 18:54

If they've granted her leave request then they cannot demand she comes in

Yes they can. An employer can cancel an employee's annual leave provided they give at least as much notice as the amount of annual leave booked. So for a single day of leave they have to give one day's notice. They cannot cancel an employee's booked leave if that would make it impossible for the employee to take the statutory minimum amount of paid leave.

If the contract reserves the right to require employees to work additional unpaid hours for the proper and effective performance of their duties (or similar) the employer may be able to insist on attendance provided the request is reasonable but it is not guaranteed. In the absence of any such provision they definitely cannot make the meeting mandatory.

Note that the staff meeting counts as working hours so, taking it into account, pay must not fall below the national minimum wage. If any staff are on or close to the national minimum wage the employer will have to pay them for attending this meeting.

Original poster
OnionKnight · 27/02/2017 19:36

The annual leave hasn't been cancelled, they just want her to come in outside of working hours to attend a staff meeting - unpaid.

OP posts:
Lilaclily · 27/02/2017 19:37

Is this teaching ? Certainly sounds like it !

Original poster
OnionKnight · 27/02/2017 20:18

Close, it's childcare.

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 27/02/2017 20:24

The annual leave hasn't been cancelled

If they are insisting she attends this meeting I think it has been cancelled. The idea of annual leave is that you don't work on your days off at all. Attending a staff meeting, even if it is unpaid and outside normal working hours, means she is having to work on her day off. It is therefore, in my view, no longer a full day off.

insancerre · 27/02/2017 20:28

I am a nursery manager and I wouldn't expect my staff to attend a staff meeting if they were on annual leave
I would feedback to them on their next day in
I wouldn't go in to work on a day off and I wouldn't want my staff to either, work life balance etc
I would advise your wife to tell them she won't be attending

HermioneJeanGranger · 28/02/2017 10:45

If you're off work, you're off work. They can cancel the annual leave, demands she works and stays for the meeting, but if not, they need to suck it up. She's on holiday.

Original poster
OnionKnight · 28/02/2017 11:23

She's in two minds about whether to go or not. Obviously it's up to her but she has seen this thread. The meeting is specifically for staff that have been there for less than a year, does that change anything? She's not been there for long, only about five months.

OP posts:
Noodoodle · 02/03/2017 13:33

I would say no. An agreed, booked day off, is a day off. End of. I wouldn't care what the meeting was for. They've booked it for a day they know your wife won't be there as the leave was booked ages ago. If they desperately needed her there that badly could they not rearrange? Will it not be minuted?

Madwoman5 · 04/03/2017 01:54

Option 1. If she cancelled her leave (I wouldn't) and took the time out to attend her appointment for exactly the length of time that the meeting is, then this would balance the hours stayed after work. She then gets her al day back.
Option 2. she could describe an unpleasant gynae procedure she is going to have in graphic detail and tell them she will not be up to doing anything after except crawling under her duvet with painkillers and a hot water bottle.
Option 3. Leave is leave and this is her right. If others who have been there longer are being green lighted to not attend, why should she have to explain what she is doing on her day off that prevents her attending?

Original poster
OnionKnight · 04/03/2017 08:46

Just a quick update, the meeting was cancelled Grin

OP posts:
GirlElephant · 09/03/2017 21:59

Can't have been that important after all Wink

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