thankyou button mushroom for reply re my son's employer?

Question

my son feels that he had to lie to get a few days annaul leave.is it reasonable to persistantly keep being told that he has had his leave requst denied and the only dates accepted are a few days in december 06. can an employer actually get away with that?

Answer 1

your son should be entitled to 4 weeks holiday. to a point a company can deny a holiday at any given time. the key here is the word reasonable. also the reasons they give for denying the request. companies like this get away with so much because staff are not prepared to complain. if it is really an issue he should use the company grievance procedure to request reasons for refusal but if he is taking his holidays in the yearly entitlement then i would conclude that the company can justify its decisions. It is never advisable to phone in sick to take a holiday as sickness records are the first things that employers consider before promtion or employing someone. have a look at the websites www.dti.gov.uk www.worksmart.org.uk for more info

Answer 2

If those are the only dates, I don't think it's reasonable at all.
Is it legal? More than likely.
An employer only has a short list of requests that MUST be honored. Any other request for leave can legally be denied (though I can't imagine keeping employees if every request is rejected).
Maybe there's more to the story than you've heard? Is your son in the middle of a huge project that requires his continual attention? It may not only be the employer who is making this difficult. Sometimes the timing of a request creates it's own obstacle.

Answer 3

I am assuming that this question has been posed by a uk based questioner, if this is the case here is the law,

All employees are legally entitled to 20 paid days holiday per calendar year, unfortunatley there is no legislation stating when this entitlement may be taken, this is usually dependent on the requirements of the business.

One final but important point is that no holidays may be carried over into the following year nor is the employer / employee allowed to forfeit holidays in exchange for payment.

I hope this answers your questions but if you have any questions send me a PM or e-mail me ant i'll attempt to clarify any grey areas.

Answer 4

Would depend on the law of the particular land and the size of the organisation. Is there a union, is there a CAB, do other people get their requests honoured? I realise you've given a message rather than a question, but I'm giving an answer in case it helps others think around the issues.

Answer 5

Employers do not have to offer vacation time or sick leave at all. If the company offers vacation time then it is at the companies discretion to approve or disapprove of vacation time. Further more if your son has missed a lot of work due to other reasons the company has a right to fore fit any amount of vacation time due. Also if the company is in a time of hardship they may suspend all vacations, especially if it will hurt productivity.

Answer 6

sounds like victimization to me is he the only one that get requests denied are his requests denied when others are putting in thiers closer to the dates they want off when was his last break from the job and for how long a few days in december sounds like they are at least letting him have time for xmas see a real good legal advisor and try for compensation

Answer 7

The employer would have to have a good reason for doing that all the time. I have to approve holidays all the time and by law I have to grant them unless I have a valid reason. Get him to ask the employer why ??? good luck :O)

Answer 8

You can check with you local OSHA chapter but yes I believe it is legal, but not advisable. Rested employees are happy employees.

Answer 9

Yes.

Answer 10

they can do whatever the hell they want , we as employees don't get much of anything our way