unpaid leave

shadowcomplex

I was wondering what are most companies polices surrounding unpaid leave, I have used up all my holidays for the year and the thought of going 6 months without any time off is a horrible thought,

Mr. Loverman

Every company is different. It depends on the industry, how important you are to the business, how busy the business is, etc.

You need to check out your contract to see if they mention anything about unpaid leave. You then need to talk to your manager to get his/her opinion. If s/he says no I would advise you don't go over his/her head as it will probably make him/her dislike you.

Delancey

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Every company is different. It depends on the industry, how important you are to the business, how busy the business is, etc.

You need to check out your contract to see if they mention anything about unpaid leave. You then need to talk to your manager to get his/her opinion. If s/he says no I would advise you don't go over his/her head as it will probably make him/her dislike you.

+ 1 . It depends on many factors so you'll have to ask . One tip : be very careful about taking any time off on sickness , sickness claims by someone who has exhausted their holiday entitlement may be subjected to close scrutiny.

Bandana boy

Also need to factor that unpaid leave will reduce your allowed holidays which will likely reduce next years entitlement.
Not too much of factor if your only looking for a couple of days.

tatli_lokma

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I was wondering what are most companies polices surrounding unpaid leave, I have used up all my holidays for the year and the thought of going 6 months without any time off is a horrible thought,

ouch...not nice at all

I would question the management skills of a company who allowed an employee to take their full AL entitlement for the year before June was out. This is madness. Firstly you haven't worked enough hours to accrue the leave, so were you to leave employment you would actually owe the company money. Secondly, allowing a system where an employee will have 6 mths without a break often leads to poor performance, and OP has already mentioned that the thoughts of 6 mths without leave is horrible.

I don't know why you chose to take all your hols so early, perhaps there were personal circumstances for it. (If not then it was a very foolish thing to do, and IMO both you and your employer are responsible for this screw up). But it might be an idea to mention it to your line manager that you would be interested in perhaps taking leave without pay over the next few months. If you have regular meetings or reviews, this would be the time to do it. Don't go asking for more time off outright, you need to be tactful about how you approach it. Perhaps acknowledge your mistake in taking so much time off already, and you are aware that this was unwise. But as you say 6mths without leave is a long time, so perhaps request LWOP for one or two extra days from now til the end of the year. Perhaps schedule it around the bank holidays if you can and its not inconvenient for the company, so that you could then possibly have 5 days off in a row which would give you a chance to recharge the batteries.

Is there any possibility of working up time in lieu? that might be another way to go about getting leave.

Delancy wrote:

One tip : be very careful about taking any time off on sickness , sickness claims by someone who has exhausted their holiday entitlement may be subjected to close scrutiny.

I agree with you completely, however if someone has no real downtime for 6 months, then it is much more likely that they will get ill. So its a catch 22 - if you do genuinely get sick it could be looked upon suspiciously, but by working for 6 mths without a decent break, the chances of you getting ill are significantly increased.

shadowcomplex

Little Ted wrote: »

ouch...not nice at all

I would question the management skills of a company who allowed an employee to take their full AL entitlement for the year before June was out. This is madness. Firstly you haven't worked enough hours to accrue the leave, so were you to leave employment you would actually owe the company money. Secondly, allowing a system where an employee will have 6 mths without a break often leads to poor performance, and OP has already mentioned that the thoughts of 6 mths without leave is horrible.

I don't know why you chose to take all your hols so early, perhaps there were personal circumstances for it. (If not then it was a very foolish thing to do, and IMO both you and your employer are responsible for this screw up). But it might be an idea to mention it to your line manager that you would be interested in perhaps taking leave without pay over the next few months. If you have regular meetings or reviews, this would be the time to do it. Don't go asking for more time off outright, you need to be tactful about how you approach it. Perhaps acknowledge your mistake in taking so much time off already, and you are aware that this was unwise. But as you say 6mths without leave is a long time, so perhaps request LWOP for one or two extra days from now til the end of the year. Perhaps schedule it around the bank holidays if you can and its not inconvenient for the company, so that you could then possibly have 5 days off in a row which would give you a chance to recharge the batteries.

Is there any possibility of working up time in lieu? that might be another way to go about getting leave.


I agree with you completely, however if someone has no real downtime for 6 months, then it is much more likely that they will get ill. So its a catch 22 - if you do genuinely get sick it could be looked upon suspiciously, but by working for 6 mths without a decent break, the chances of you getting ill are significantly increased.

I went traveling to Aus and I dont think it was very foolish at all

tatli_lokma

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I went traveling to Aus and I dont think it was very foolish at all

well in that case, sorry to be harsh, but if you took that time off for a holiday, then suck it up. You can't now complain about not getting holidays for 6 mths. You knew what the implications were when you asked for the time off. I still think that taking all your allotted leave in one chunck before even half the year is out is foolish. Had it been for a family emergency or something really urgent then I would have said fair enough, but not for an extended holiday.

chris85

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I went traveling to Aus and I dont think it was very foolish at all

I doubt was foolish but you are now complaining you have no leave left and thus shows a bit of lack of foresight.

Ask your boss nicely can you gop unpaid, some contracts allow this, some dont and if they dont it is very much at the discretion of your manager. If the company are busy or they need you to be there then would not be too fussy as was your choice to take all the leave so early and the company hired you to work.

statss

only messers ask for unpaid leave after a trip away travelling. proceed with caution!