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Original poster

Holiday advice please

10 replies

chipmunkcalling · 14/09/2018 10:16

I work in a school, and have done for about a year now, I'm a Lunchtime Supervisor. I have a holiday booked in October, the 2 weeks before half term. The holiday was booked and paid for before I knew about it, as it is a birthday present as I have a big birthday during the holiday. The School have now said that the time off will not be authorised,and that I can only have 3 days of the 2 weeks I'd asked for. The holiday is on the other side of the world, so not one I can just pick and choose which days to be there.
I am still going on my holiday because of the reasons behind it. I'm not clued up on employment law, as to what can happen with me going on the holiday anyway. We're short staffed, and have been since before I started, so I know that is an issue for them, but I put in the request well before the 4 week cut off, and as soon as I had the dates confirmed.

Anyone able to help?

OP posts:

ShalomJackie · 14/09/2018 10:18

You need to be prepared to resign but tell them you intend to reapply for your job when advertised. (I assume you offered to take it unpaid leave already?)

SassitudeandSparkle · 14/09/2018 10:25

This sounds familiar tbh, although the one I'm thinking off knew they couldn't take holidays and booked it anyway. Do you actually get any holidays that you can take in term-time, because it's quite common not to be able to take time off in term-time only jobs.

The blame here is with the person who booked the holiday, unfortunately.

Original poster

chipmunkcalling · 14/09/2018 10:32

Yes, I've said that I don't mind if it's unpaid, as I was expecting it not to be anyway with it being during term time. The job itself was only supposed to be a stepping stone back into work till I found something better anyway. I'm doing a job search as we speak. Hoping that one of the 5 applications I've submitted so far will be successful. While I love working with the kids, I don't really like the people I work with.

OP posts:

Original poster

chipmunkcalling · 14/09/2018 10:34

Also, the holiday was booked and paid for before I took the job, I just hadn't been told about it, until a few months ago.

OP posts:

cloudtree · 14/09/2018 10:34

Its as simple as this. If you take the holiday without authorisation you ned to be prepared for the fact that you could be dismissed. And you have not worked there long enough to even try to argue that the dismissal was unfair (although it is likely to be fair anyway).

I'm an employment solicitor.

IceRebel · 14/09/2018 11:07

I would be cross with the person who booked the holiday on your behalf, if it's been booked for over a year they could have let you know sooner as it was obviously going to be an issue when you began a term time job.

miketv · 14/09/2018 11:15

I think the best option is to resign so that your notice period finishes just before you go on holiday. This way you won't be sacked. Then you can apply for new jobs to start after you get back.

They will probably not be happy either way - especially if they're short staffed already - but this way you can tell them that the holiday is important to you and you want to give them the chance to employ someone else as you know it's not reasonable to for the existing staff to cover for you.

flowery · 14/09/2018 11:16

"I would be cross with the person who booked the holiday on your behalf, if it's been booked for over a year they could have let you know sooner as it was obviously going to be an issue when you began a term time job."

Yes I agree. It sounds like someone knew about it for ages even if you didn't, so they should have told you. Working in a school in a team which is short staffed you were never going to have time off authorised during term time.

Time off during term time for school staff tends to be a day or two for absolutely exceptional things which cannot take place at any other time. They were never going to give you two weeks off at what sounds like very little notice really.

If they are short-staffed they might feel they are not in a position to dismiss you but you'll probably get a warning anyway and your working relationships will be severely damaged.

But if you're looking to move on anyway you may not be worried about those things!

Original poster

chipmunkcalling · 14/09/2018 11:32

@IceReble I knew that I was having a holiday, didn't know where and didn't know when, I had been pestering them for the dates to book off for a while, I'm not cross with them at all, it's a once in a lifetime chance for me, as I know that I'm very unlikely to get this chance again, at least not for an extremely long time. I gave the school the dates as soon as I knew them myself.

@miketv I'm not in a position, financially, to do this, although it does seem to be the best option right now.

@flowery I don't really have any good relationships with the people there, I'm there for an hour and a half a day and barely see any other staff, other than the other lunchtime supervisor, who constantly moans about everything anyway. So no, it's not a problem for me.

OP posts:

Ylvamoon · 15/09/2018 10:18

Why didn't you tell them about the holiday once the job was offered & you accepted it? (They would have made an exception in special circumstances .)
You said, you knew about the holiday, and you may not have known about the exact dates but than, you knew it was for your birthday. I think you know when your birthday is.....
Best advice is to resign and look for an other job.

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