My place of work runs christmas holiday days (25th, 26th Dec) which falls on a monday, tuesday and new year holiday (1st Jan)
Now the only working days between these two days are (27th, 28th,29th) Weds to fri. Our company goes into factory shutdown and the offices close for 3 days. We are told that we have to take these 3 days out of out annual leave. Is this allowed or should it just be part of christmas holiday that we are entitled to?
2006-12-13 22:31:08 · 21 answers · asked by Terry Wogan 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
yes, legal
2006-12-13 22:35:08 · answer #1 · answered by St♥rmy Skye 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
This is Legal. Margaret Thatcher did away with our entitlement to public holidays. The Working Time Directive is the law concerning your right to time off work. This directive came in as a health and safety measure and states that you must take twenty days (if you work a five day week) off work per year. This time off must be taken and it is no longer legal to work your holidays and be paid extra. Unless you have an employment contract giving you more time off your employer can include public holidays in the twenty days. Your employer also has the right to tell you when you can take leave (quite a few shut down for a period at Christmas).
The Labour government has said it will extend leave allowed in the Working Time Directive so that public holidays will become an entitlement once again. Don't hold your breath.
2006-12-13 23:19:57 · answer #2 · answered by Tony M 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is legal, yes. When you joined the company, the annual leave allowance, notice period etc etc will have been set out in writing or explained to you. If you didn't agree with it, you should not have taken the job.
If changes were made AFTER you joined the company, then you could have made your views known through your union rep. You are in a union, right?
Think about teachers. They have to take their holidays at certain times. Imagine the chaos if they were allowed to take their holidays as and when they wanted.
Or think about the police - what if all the Suffolk police trying to find the killer of those 5 girls wanted to take their annual leave now?
2006-12-13 22:35:46 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My work place shuts down during the whole of christmas week, but we do not have to take annual leave. It is just given to us as an extra. However, when I worked at the same company as a temp, I had to take annual leave on those days otherwise I wouldn't get paid. I argued that it was not my fault I couldn't work, but my agency didn't want to know. I think it is legal because basically they can do what they want. If they had to give the leave to you for free then they would.
2006-12-13 22:40:06 · answer #4 · answered by Jo_Diva 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No this is the norm in most places of work these days. Apart from the services and public sector and retail most places of work close in between Christmas and New Year. And most employees are expected to use part of their own holiday entitlement to cover this period in between.
A culture that is now accepted by most these days.
I would like to point out that and it might be hard to accept that company's are not obliged to pay you for these holidays only the public ones, not discretionary ones.
2006-12-13 22:39:09 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, if you are in the USA, you are not entitled to any holidays off or even Holiday pay... Holidays and paid time off is something an employer "gives" to the employees. Even the "Family home medical leave act" does not grant you any monetary compensation while you are off.
I am sure that your employer has taken into consideration that someone might ask this question. I can almost guarantee you that they are more than willing to NOT pay you for these three days.
2006-12-13 22:47:44 · answer #6 · answered by and,or,nand,nor 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I worked for a company a few years back that did this. We had so much personal time that we could take, and the holidays were forced personal time, meaning payroll would automatically take pt out of the bank we had accrued for the holidays. Their explanation for this was that they took that in to account when figuring out how much personal time we would accrue.
To be honest, it was never much of an issue for me. The company was a great company to work for, great pay and really good benefits. This far outweighed being forced to take a few personal days.
2006-12-13 23:46:43 · answer #7 · answered by AB 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the 27th through the 29th are not Holidays,but if your company is not open those days,you should not have to use your personal leave time,If they were open those days,then I could understand why you should be able to take leave if you wanted to.
At best I would not use my leave and tell your boss that you choose to work those days and see what he says.
Tell him /her that you choose not to use your personal leave on those days.
If you have a union at your place of work ,consult with your union steward .
No it does not seem fair to have to be forced to use personal days when the company is not even open.
2006-12-13 22:39:09 · answer #8 · answered by Dfirefox 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think what really bothers you is pay lost! Take the days and enjoy them with family or a trip ,or doing some voluntary work with those less fortunate. Stop complaining and live! Legality does not come in here! You work for somebody ,you follow their rules, easy as apple pie! Merry Christmas!
2006-12-13 22:35:25 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is legal, but if you have an employment contract, they might be violating that. Problem is, most employees are "at will" and don't have contracts.
Even if you are "at will" you might have some recourse. When you took the job, I assume they told you what your annual salary would be and how much leave you would get. Well, then if you don't take your annual leave days, you won't be getting paid what they promised you. If they had this Christmas leave policy in effect when you were hired, or knew they were going to have it, but failed to tell you about it, they were misrepresenting your annual pay/ leave situation and you could sue them for fraud.
However, if this is a new policy, it's not fraud for them to change your pay/leave if you are an "at will" employee. Your recourse then would be to quit.
I'd bet that, if they had this policy when you were hired, they made you sign something that okay'd it even if they didn't expain it to you.
2006-12-13 22:33:39 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
It is as legal as your company want to make it, Christmas and New Year are regarded as public holidays, not the days between.
If you are still being paid for them then where is the problem.
Sorry, there is no law that covers this.
2006-12-13 22:37:34 · answer #11 · answered by Bladerunner (Dave) 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋