Forced to cancel holidays

LegacyUser

Hi,

I am being told I may have to cancel my holidays. I was told yesterday over the phone. It's due to someone walking out and quitting yesterday. My 2 week holidays start on Saturday and I'm due to take a flight on Tuesday. My holidays were booked and approved ages ago. (They did say my flights will be paid for)

Am I able to make a choice here?

I know if I just say no, they'll either let me go (if they legally can) or bully me with bad rosters or stuff like that.

Not only does this effect me, but my partner has also booked the same times off work as I have, so it means their holiday plans are ruined too.

Any information would be appreciated. If I hadn't planned to go to a particular even then I wouldn't mind cancelling my holiday.. but then there's the other half who can't really do any thing about it.

Tzardine

From my understanding of this , your employer may allocate or change your holidays for you however im pretty sure they must give you a months notice to do so.

If you are in a union i would obviously recommend you have a chat with them . Failing that you can have a look at

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

http://www.employmentrights.ie/en/

Personally i would approach your employer and explain that it is unreasonable for you to change you holidays at such short notice and to do so would leave both yourself and others not only put out but out of pocket also. If they attempt to bring you forward for disciplinary proceedings or try to bully you with bad rosters etc then i would consult an employment solicitor.

Just because it is an employers market at the moment that does not mean that a company can abuse its current staff.

Best of luck in whatever decision you make

bbam

I've had to do this on employees in the past... sometimes business needs just force your hand...
Just be sure your manager has double checked the rosters to see if there is anyone else who could be switched to cover... If you have any suggestions or other solutions make them known... Sometimes managers get under so much pressure an obvious alternative solution may be missed..

Must admit I never canceled more than a week and always added extra days onto the persons holiday balance, typically equal to what I canceled. For a good manager this will be the last resort rather than the first thing he thinks of.

I think your intuition on playing the game is right... employees who never flex when it's required always stick out in the mind when it comes to performance reviews and sh1tty jobs, like it or not it's a fact of life.

inforfun

An employee is flexible when working over time for a few hours without any notice.
Asking an employee to cancel his or her holidays 1 day before they start is asking this employee to bend over backwards.

Personally i know what my answer would be: 1 person already walked out, do you want to see me go too?

But then again, i am in a job where it is hard, if not almost impossible to find an adequate replacement for me.
Not that i am so brilliant, it is just the job specs that will make it so hard.

wmpdd3

I have had asked employees to cancel their holidays too. But if they are due to go away the employee just says 'sorry, no can do'.

Either more managers and me had to work their hours or more payroll money magically appears form higher up when they realise they will be doing the tasks of the missing person.

I agree it sucks. Every one else sufffers when someone walks out / goes out on unplanned absence, but I agree cancelling your holiday is too much to suffer. Your holiday insurance won't even cover this, are work going to give you €1500 to cover your loss?

I would politely refuse.

LegacyUser

I have given my opinions on what could be done, and it was tried.. the person didn't turn up. Thanks for the comments.. good to see comments from employers that had to cancel their employee's holidays, but what if they refused? Can they?

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I have had asked employees to cancel their holidays too. But if they are due to go away the employee just says 'sorry, no can do'.

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I would politely refuse.

That's the problem, I'm being told I can not refuse. They'd simply find an excuse to get rid of me.
Two new staff, one day after the other, let the boss down. He said he could just do it then, but missed a day ALREADY! Got another person to cover and she wasn't happy with it.

wmpdd3

If your there more than a year and you're let go just for saying you cannot cancel you holidays your boss could be sued for wrongful dismissal. But that is not much use to you when your unemployed.

I get the feeling from your post your pretty loyal and your probably going to cancel your holidays and work, just make sure this massive sacrifice doesn't go un-noticed!