Boss taking all annual leave over school holidays

[Sickofthissheeet]

Between me and my boss one of us has to be in to provide cover. We both have school aged children but mine are reception and pre school and hers are secondary.

she has emailed me to say that management have approved for her to take her holiday across august and Xmas and Easter and I can’t take those times off as need to cover. Explained that we would need to compromise as also need time off then and she’s said if I don’t cover it mean she won’t get to spend time with her children or see her extended family(?!)

AIBU to think this is really unfair? We both want the same times off but surely we have to divvy them up? She can’t just take them all?

Can you apply for the same weeks? If management doesn't approve then you can open dialogue about how it's not first come first serve and your boss didn't discuss with you. Then if they give you the same time off then your boss has to agree to a discussion.

I used to work in a place where there were 9 of us (all female) and the 2 bosses. All of us had children from toddlers up to primary school age. The bosses had no children.
The rule was no 2 people could be off at the same time, so trying to work out holidays during the 7 weeks of the summer holidays were an absolute nightmare.

We weren’t allowed holidays between Christmas and new year so that sorted that argument (well the bosses were allowed that time off).

One year the boss told us he was “thinking” about going on holiday during the school summer holidays and told us the full 7 weeks were off limits until he had decided……..aye right okay!

Agree, I think Christmas is the biggest deal here.

For the rest of the year, that still leaves you the majority of the summer holidays available plus dibs on all three half terms. Which seems fine tbh? I personally would be focusing my energies on Christmas, because that's where she's taking the piss. That should be 50/50.

Surely if she's your boss, she's gonna refuse your leave for those dates even if she hasn't booked which is where the unfairness comes in. 1 week each at Easter & alternate Christmas seems fairest from the outside.
I can't get upset about August - there are 4 other weeks to choose from.

I think there's quite a bit of wide eyed faux naïveté on this thread ('oh first come, first served' / 'it can't have meant that much to you if you hadn't already requested leave').

Of course there should be some discussion about equitable allocation of annual leave at key times - Easter, Christmas/NY, public holidays. It stinks for one person to grab the lot

she said that if I didn’t agree she would be unable to go on holiday.

Don't agree and let her know emotional blackmail will not help her in this instance.
Its not compulsory to go away for 2 weeks at easter or two weeks over a bank holiday.

Alternatively she can have those dates this year - but the following year you'll be taking those dates - whats she going to do them. Better to sit dow and decide between you what and when rather than one person making the chices and telling the other person

I had a manager (three of us reporting to her) who said 'first come, first served'. So one of my colleagues went through the calendar and booked the leave she wanted for the whole year before anyone got a look in. She did something like a week at Easter and Christmas, three staggered weeks in the school holidays and an extra day at every bank holiday. Essentially she prevented anyone else from taking a long chunk of leave that overlapped with a school holiday.

As if that wasn't bad enough, a couple of months into the year, she cancelled or moved a lot of it.

I would say if your boss is being inconsiderate, the best thing for you to do is find another job. Taking leave is an issue when a lot of people in the same team have children, so maybe look for something in education where taking leave in the school holidays is less of an issue.

This year go with it but make no promises / next year make sure you get in there first for Christmas and at least half Easter ..

Whilst I agree that the summer holidays aren’t the biggest deal in this scenario, it’s also worth pointing out that she’s hogging 5 (of the eight) bank holidays meaning that her annual leave goes much further than OP’s.

She’s blatantly a massive CF.

Thanks for all the replies.

as some have said it’s the fact she’s unilaterally dictated the holidays she wants, for the plum times of the year, with no consideration or discussion. Then told me I have to agree and given a sob story if I don’t.

she said she has had it all approved but I think that she’s either lied about that or she’s lied to management.

If you want or need time off with your children (or indeed any relative or commitment) you book in plenty of time.

I don't like the idea of putting in a request and then your boss decides who's the most "deserving". First come first served is much fairer. If your colleague keeps beating you to it, you need to book it earlier. That's with the exception of Christmas for those who have to work it.

I agree it's slightly different when your boss is misusing their position to nab the plum weeks, but that's why you need a system where the first request "wins" so they can't say no.

That's really unfair! One of my team needs to cover me when I'm not there and we both want the school holidays. So we sit down and agree between us so we both get a fair share. Absolutely ridiculous of her and I would look for a new job

Yeah that's true as well. Most of them being Christmas, I'd use that to bolster my argument about that specifically. Don't bring up the last two weeks in August because that'll just sound stupid, and maybe use Easter as a bit of leverage.

@SoShallINever

😂

I used to have to do a rota. Holiday was first come first served unless it was during the big holidays (Easter, Xmas/NYE and Aug Bank holiday).

For those dates I asked people to submit preferences by a certain date then looked back over the past few years to see what people has done before and did my best to balance requests fairly.

First come first served is a totally bollocks system with only 2 people covering.

First come first served is much fairer.

it really isn't

I once went for an interview (part time dental receptionist) and I was quite keen on the job until they told me they closed the surgery when they went on holiday so I would have to take my holidays when they did!

I’ve had that many years ago in a factory. It was better in some ways.

That’s acceptable to some extent in that they’re up front about it.

It would suit some, not me, but some.

Yes it would have suited some people because all their holidays were taken in the school holidays. I don't have school age children and want to choose when I go.

I'm.a GP and work with 4 other GPS all of whom have school age children. We can only have 2 people off together. I no longer need school holidays so apart from Christmas where we run a different rota I take my holidays out with the school ones. The other GPs have a rota for who selects first in the summer and Easter they get a week each and October a week each now. February half term they take a little each.

We have to be fair and there's no such thing as first come first served as we need to work as a team. I'm glad to say I retire in 9 weeks so won't have to deal with any holiday politics..

Sorry YABU and you sound a bit disorganised tbh. I book all my leave for the year ahead in January for exactly this reason.

I had a boss like that. He had children who were 16 and 18 and I was a single parent and mine were primary school aged and he basically took the whole of the summer holidays off. I was fuming every year. I had to pay for childcare over the holidays while he didn’t. It did help slightly when the whole company got laptops and we could work from home sometimes. I did learn to work while the tv was on full blast!

It is annoying her taking the last two weeks of the summer holidays because most summer camps don’t offer the last week. Could you insist because of that? Say it’s impossible.

If she had to work it all the previous year it’s fair for her to have it off this year.

Next time round you can suggest dividing it.

re august. It’s July. If you hadn’t booked it off I think at this point it’s fair game.

And actually I don’t see an issue with her wanting the same time off each year, saying no for the sake of it is childish. She’s giving plenty of notice and arguably you now both know where you stand for august which makes planning easier.