Hi lovely mums netters. I wonder if you could all give me some advice as to how to go about a problem I face. I work in a very small company, and have a pivotal role, and am entirely responsible for some very long-winded "daily" tasks which make the business tick over. I don't want to say too much - but if I "manage" to take time off, I am always stressed anyway, as I know I will come back to an absolute MOUNTAIN of work, as nobody in the company ever picks up any my work, and in fact nobody will learn to, (I have tried!) It is not brain surgery, so I am not boasting! So I come back from a few days off, to then have to come in early, and stay late, just to catch up and correct all the errors. The biggest problem, however, is that whenever I ask (properly and in due time) to take some of my annual leave, my manager always has to consult her diary, to see if it is convenient or not, and more often than not, it is "in-convenient" as we are always sooo busy, and sooo short of staff! For three years in a row now, I have lost out on large chunks of my holiday entitlement, (part of my contract) simply because it was "inconvenient". The longest I am ever allowed to take in any one go is 4 days, which is SO unfair, when other staff go off for their foreign holidays for 10 days. I have tried to make sense of it on google, acas.... etc.. but it seems to be an extremely grey area. I am not allowed pay in lieu of refused holiday, and I cannot carry it over to the next year. (God forbid, I should dare to ask for a whole week off!) Does anyone have any pointers or reference sites they might know of which make it plainer? TGF mumsnetters, as I know someone out there will point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance.