Annual leave request refused

[SienaBlue]

I put in a leave request on the Monday to have Friday off. The request was for a single day of annual leave to take my child to a sporting event to defend their champion title.

We were awaiting confirmation from the school that they gave permission for my child to have leave to attend the event. And as soon as I had their permission, I then put in my annual leave request. It was just for a single day, so I felt that was enough notice for my line manager.

For background info, we are a reduced team as we have 2 team members on long term sick leave. So that leaves us with a agency worker who has been with us for 5 months. A new team member, who started employment 6 weeks ago plus one other experienced team member who works part time and does not work Fridays. My line manager works outside of the main team. Fridays are usually quiet and considered to be a non meeting day.

My line manager has refused my request on the grounds that:

There was insufficient notice to allow them to be flexible and make alternative arrangements for cover.
They want to work on the premise that there is always an experienced staff member, senior grade present.

Whilst I do understand that it would leave the team light on experienced staff members, I think that I have given enough notice for a single day's leave. Plus the new rule of always needing an experienced staff member present should have been discussed ahead of being enforced, so that at least I would have been aware of this and had some advance notice if it. I also think that it is slightly unfair as the only other experienced staff member doesn't work Fridays, so I am concerned that I will not be able to take a Friday off until the others return from their long term sick leave (not sure when that will be). I feel that I am penalised for others being on long term sick leave, which is out of my control.

I'm also sad and disappointed that I will not be there supporting my child at what is an important event for them.

Does anyone else think it is unfair and worth a conversation with HR?

Exactly!

I think you should have put the request in at the same time you asked the school for leave.
But hindsight is a marvellous thing.

Do they know why you have requested the leave and is there any compromise to be had I.e. could you work a half day ? If they don't know why, I think I'd go down the heartfelt plea route without mentioning any concerns or grievances at this point.

its a bit daft putting the school request in first and leaving your request till now. Personally I would have booked the work day off immediately and simply notified the school that my son would not be attending.

It isnt a black and white as that. Putting your job "first" over an optional activity that you would not have attended if school had not given permission, not risking disciplinery action, when that job puts a roof over your head and keeps you out of poverty IS putting your child first. Sometimes decisions are not that easy.

What "unpaid parental leave" is this?

www.gov.uk/parental-leave

Can't someone else take your child to the event?

For future ref. Schools cannot stop you from taking your kid out for a day. In this case, you must have had plenty of notice of the event. You should have booked leave when you knew the date. Then informed school your child will not attend school on that date.

Next time just ring in sick

Would your colleague that doesn't work Fridays come into cover for you? We have a similar rule re experienced staff etc but I don't work Fridays. I have (rare, but on occasion) swapped my day off if a colleague is desperate

I find it slightly bizarre that it's a child's event - but held on a school day and therefore requiring permission to be absent from school as well as a parent taking time off

Still dont see unpaid parental leave that you can book a day of with a couple of days notice. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ultimately a lot of employers rely on people not knowing their rights, and/or being threatened into compliance.

Better to know your rights and read up the rules of your employer (policies, employee handbook) and judge for yourself what consequences you're likely to get and if they're too big or not.

Recommend joining union just in case of anything escalating.

Unpaid emergency dependants leave is not to go for a jolly because your child is in an event. A lie like that could get the OP dismissed.

Sorry OP but employers are permitted to decline leave requests, and they do not have to provide a reason either. But the reason given is not unreasonable given that you only gave 4 days notice and you also knew that staff capacity was stretched. Had you given more notice I would have had more sympathy, but I don't think the manager is being unreasonable in the circumstances you describe.

Time to dust off that Force Majeure leave document that your company probably has stuffed at the back of a filing cabinet somewhere.

www.gov.uk/time-off-for-dependants @Survey99 this relates to emergencies so OP wouldn't really qualify but it does exist.

You can't! It has to be booked in blocks of weeks, it must be applied for and the employers has to approve it anyway. They aren't going to do that with 4 days notice.

My place of work want 6 weeks notice for any annual leave , I've been lucky as a couple times I've given 4 weeks for a day off and it's been granted but that was luck .
4 days notice would not be looked at unless it was extraordinary circumstances and it would have to be extraordinary

Yes, not for jollies that the op didnt book in time when she had plenty of notice.

And if you are caught you will be dismissed. Is a child's event worth dismissal, when the time could have been booked much longer in advance? Perhaps. But dismissal for falsely claiming to be sick is a risk one should be aware of. In most workplaces that is gross misconduct.

Family comes first. Call in sick and screw them. Companies need to learn that they are not important. Our kids are. The memories we make are.

Years down the line you won't be saying "oh I'm so glad I missed all my children's important life events and attended my shift at work". You'll be full of regret that you put work first.

You don't owe your work any loyalty. If you dripped dead tomorrow, they'd replace you within the week.

Go. And get yourself a better job afterwards.

I wouldn't go to HR but to the manager. I'd ask for clarification as the two reasons seem to cancel each other out; was it insufficient notice or is it the specific grade of staff member that's the issue?
And on the latter, what implications does that have for any further Fridays you might need off?

I swopped my days on occasion to cover in similar circumstances, but would not have been able to do so with such short notice due to caring responsibilities on my non working days.

You should have just requested it at the earliest opportunity and then let school do all their deliberating afterwards.

You could always have cancelled it or found something else to spend the day doing if the event fell through.

I think you probably should have discussed this leave before the same week. Even if you couldn’t know it was definitely going to be needed due to school, you could have prewarned your line manager and discussed what was happening that day in work with them.

It’s not an emergency if you know about it in advance.

The OP would almost certainly be pulled up for attempting this. (Am in HR.)