Can they make him take holidays at such short notice?

[TeapotCollection]

My husband has just told me that the Company he works for have decided to break up for Christmas on Friday, meaning they have to take 4 days holiday next week

Can they do this?

Yes.

Unless the contract states otherwise, they have to give twice as much notice as the length of annual leave, so for four days that would be eight days notice. However, if they're a little short of that, in practice there's nothing you can do about it.

Yes, DH is in the same position of using annual leave for shut down.

He was given a month's notice though! (And really really wants a break!)

☹️ thanks for your help folks

No they can’t do that. To make him take 4 days’ holiday they need to give 8 days’ notice which they don’t have time to do.

Thank you flowery that’s a bit more encouraging 😊

But it seems he won't be able to go in, even if he wanted to - as you say the company is shutting down.

What does he actually want?

They’re going to have a chat in the morning (there’s only 4 of them) to discuss what to do. They’re all annoyed about it, and it does seem that they’re not allowed to enforce it. I’ve been on here for long enough to know that flowery is well qualified in HR 😊

I suspect they won’t challenge it though from what he’s said this evening

They want to stay open and keep their holidays

When does his holiday year start, if from Jan to Dec and he has holiday left then what happens to the leave if he doesn't take it. Does the company holiday policy state he can carry over leave or would he lose it.

They’ve always been allowed to carry it over in all the years he’s worked there

It friends have n his contract. As flowery says it’s standard to give notice that is twice as long as the leave duration. I would just check the contract though.