how much notice do you need to give an employer for holidays?

[MamaChris]

dp has come home today with a form to apply for next year's annual leave. apparently the entire year's leave (Feb 2010-Jan 2011) needs to be applied for in one go - by Monday! I have no idea yet what will be happening in my work next year (and normally we are expected to be flexible and not take holidays around busy times, which are unpredictable).

I wanted to ask: is applying for a whole year's leave in advance normal? can dp's employer really ask that? and even the days applied for are not guaranteed - it depends on how many people apply for the same dates.

Blimey - I've only ever worked in places where they have wanted notice as long as the leave - ie a day for a day's leave, 2 weeks for a fortnight etc. Longer than a fortnight requiring Board approval.

Sounds a bit out of order to me.

I do think that is unreasonable. Where I work thay have to give at least 4 weeks notice but if people have already booked the dates off then you are asked to take a different time.

My sister used to have to do that when she worked for a high street bank - you got to choose depending on how long you'd worked for them.

It was a nightmare and she frequently got rubbish holiday.

dp works in a supermarket, so perhaps it's more like a high street bank. I could understand if it just meant holidays not booked sufficiently in advance would have to be fitted around what other people have booked, but the implication is that everything has to be booked by Monday. I'm not at all impressed, as I really can't plan my work year that far in advance.

Where U worked this was the policy (yes a bank), I also had to agree holiday. Bascially a min amount of staff need to be there at anyone time and at certain levels. also believe it or not it is also to ensure that every gets to take their holiday.

If notice is given, and there is a gap then we did move holiday for people. MIght be worth him explain the situation and asking if this is the case.

PS taking holiday when the business needs you to sounds strange to me

oops - meant I need to be flexible and not take holiday at busy times!

I can understand the policy if we wanted to book for school summer hols. but if we're prepared to say, next June "can we take a week in September?" and be flexible about which week, is that really impossible? totally understand that a minimum number of staff are needed in each section - that's how it works in any company, but most manage without up to 15 months notice!

anyway, sounding off on here does no good it's dp's work I'm annoyed at.