carrying over annual leave

galway gal

Hi there,

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if there is a legal maximum number of days annual leave which can be carried over.

I deliberately didn't take hols this year as I thought I'd be let go. The good news is I'm still in a job til Feb 2010, but now I have 17 days to take between now and end of Dec and not much chance of taking them.

Ideally, I will take 2 weeks at Christmas and carry over 5-7 days, but I'm just wondering if there are any legalities around this.

Any advice much appreciated.

vonniec

As far as I know, it's the companys discression... Where I am now, I can carry over my holidays until mid-February if I want to.

bongi69

From Citizens Info
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/annual_leave_public_holidays.html

"In addition, annual leave should be taken within the appropriate leave year or with your consent, within 6 months of the relevant leave year. Further holding over (also known as carrying-over) of annual leave at your wish is a matter for agreement between you and your employer. "

From the above it seems that it can be carried over into the first 6 months of next year, but this seems to be at the employers request. From personal experience, I've had a few days that I hadn't taken carried over into the next year, and I used them from the 1st of Jan to go home for a couple of weeks. That was at my request, and as my employer at the time said, they're not legally obliged to do it. Talk to your employer and see what they say.

sundodger5

i think you can carry 4 days over.
thats what my company do.

galway gal

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll drop HR a mail and see what the story is.

Eoin

We have a pretty strict "use them or lose them" policy in our place.

If it was your choice not to take annual leave, rather than the company not giving you the opportunity not to take it, then I don't know if you have any right at all to them being carried over.

christy02

Holidays are for taking in the year issued. Companys do not have to allow carry overs.
My company allows us to carry 39 hours, any more than that we lose.
Theoretically you could lose those 17 days if the company policy was such.
Would check out soonest...

christy02

Holidays are for taking in the year issued. Companys do not have to allow carry overs.
My company allows us to carry 39 hours, any more than that we lose.
Theoretically you could lose those 17 days if the company policy was such.
Would check out soonest...

brightspark

The law regarding holiday leave is the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

I doubt if a company can legally declare holidays 'lost'.

20.—(1) The times at which annual leave is granted to an employee shall be determined by his or her employer having regard to work requirements and subject—

(a) to the employer taking into account—

(i) the need for the employee to reconcile work and any family responsibilities,

(ii) the opportunities for rest and recreation available to the employee,

(b) to the employer having consulted the employee or the trade union (if any) of which he or she is a member, not later than 1 month before the day on which the annual leave or, as the case may be, the portion thereof concerned is due to commence, and

(c) to the leave being granted within the leave year to which it relates or, with the consent of the employee, within the 6 months thereafter.

So a company has to grant holiday leave within up to 6 months after the year end.
Also note that companies can with one months notice tell you to take holidays on certain days, as long as they 'consult'

(3) Nothing in this section shall prevent an employer and employee from entering into arrangements that are more favourable to the employee with regard to the times of, and the pay in respect of, his or her annual leave.

The only time they can legally just pay you your holiday pay without giving you time off is when you leave!

eurokev

What about if you dont take em. Will you get payed for them at years end. I still have about two weeks owing to me this year with no chance of taking because its too busy.

Eoin

brightspark wrote: »

I doubt if a company can legally declare holidays 'lost'.

I really doubt my company would do it if it wasn't legal; they make very sure to follow employment legislation.

Whippersnapper

Just interested in why you didn't take them because you thought you'd be let go?

Peadar_85

eurokev wrote: »

What about if you dont take em. Will you get payed for them at years end. I still have about two weeks owing to me this year with no chance of taking because its too busy.

Highly unlikely that you'll get paid for them. From my experience, I've only been paid for hols that I'd left to take upon leaving the job.

Regards carry over, in my last job the holiday calender was from when you started in the company and we'd an extra month to use up carryover days i.e. if you joined start in July 2009, you had to use up your hols by end of August 2010. In my current job you get a holiday allocation from Jan-Dec and you're allowed carry over 5 days til the end of the following March

bbam

eoin wrote: »

I really doubt my company would do it if it wasn't legal; they make very sure to follow employment legislation.

This was tried where I work and it couldn't be pushed through (non union Multi) Thing is the employer is responsible for ensuring you take your holidays and they cannot take them from you just because they didn't discharge their responsibility...
Holidays can be carried over but there is usually an agreement made on when they must be used by... equally an employer cannot pay you for holidays although I know this does happen...

Was told by an IBEC rep that there would be a legal case to be made, in the case of an accident if an employee was overdue large ammounts of holidays and the employer haddn't insisted on taking them

brightspark

bbam wrote: »

Was told by an IBEC rep that there would be a legal case to be made, in the case of an accident if an employee was overdue large ammounts of holidays and the employer haddn't insisted on taking them

As the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is considered by some to be 'Health and Safety' legislation he was right.

chappy

If your company has not stopped you taking holidays during the years then you can lose them.It is upto you to request your holidays and only if the company declined your request could alternatives arrangements be made.

brightspark

chappy wrote: »

It is upto you to request your holidays.

The legislation says otherwise

"The times at which annual leave is granted to an employee shall be determined by his or her employer"

Eoin

brightspark wrote: »

The legislation says otherwise

"The times at which annual leave is granted to an employee shall be determined by his or her employer"

That's true - but there has to be a request for the employer to grant in the first place.

As I said, our place (also non-union multinational) is pretty diligent with HR policy and they have the "use it or lose it" policy in place.

Obviously it's up to management to make sure it doesn't come to the stage where someone has that much leave left, but there must be some onus on the employee to at least request leave.

hitman79

I have about 5 days of annual leave left to take. As i work a 3 day week i didnt really need to use much holidays this year. Should i take them or just let them go? Does everyone use up their full allocation of hols??

seamus

You can't just "let them go", the company is legally compelled to make you take your full allocation of holidays in a given year. If you do not take your five days' holidays, your employer is breaking the law.

I personally have no idea why you wouldn't take your full allocation. No matter how much you love your job, there's nothing like taking a week off and getting paid for it.