Holidays and Christmas

Kev_2012

Hi all,

I am due to finish my employment soon and I have some holidays that I am waiting to be paid also.

I only used a couple of days holidays that I requested but we also got a few days off at christmas. The company was just closed for these days and there was no option to work. I never request these days at christmas to be off and was never told that these would be taken from my holidays.

Should I still be paid for those days? Can holidays be used up without requesting them and used for days that the company was closed anyway?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Nody

Yes your holidays will be used for the days the office was closed as it is not your decision to decide how your holidays are allocated.

Kev_2012

My contract doesn't state anything about mandatory holidays at christmas and I was never informed of this. Is there some sort of legally implied rule for this? Surely you can't expect someone to use their holidays simply because the office decided to close? I have no problem with using my holidays if this is outlined to me but it never was and isn't in my contract.

LowKeyReturn

The company can allocate your holidays to a degree. I'm actually not 100% sure what the situation is if the place is close, however, looking at it from the point of view of references; why would you burn bridges? It's not as if you didn't actually take the time off.

tatli_lokma

It doesn't have to be specified in your contract. The law states that your employer has final say on when you take your leave. It is quite standard practice that periods where the company is closed are taken from annual leave allowances. In fact, as you never utilised all of your statutory leave, your employer would have been totally within their rights to have enforced holidays upon you before the end of the leave year. The fact they allowed the unused days to be carried forward is very reasonable of them.

Kev_2012

Fair enough if this is the case, I just wanted to clear it all up! In my last job I was always told that I had to request those days off, but I wasn't told anything about taking holidays at Xmas in this one. It just seems a bit odd that without any notice or indication whatsoever that your employer can use your holidays to cover when the company is closed.

tatli_lokma

Kev_2012 wrote: »

It just seems a bit odd that without any notice or indication whatsoever that your employer can use your holidays to cover when the company is closed.

Nothing odd about it at all - thousands of companies do it every year!

LowKeyReturn

Kev_2012 wrote: »

Fair enough if this is the case, I just wanted to clear it all up! In my last job I was always told that I had to request those days off, but I wasn't told anything about taking holidays at Xmas in this one. It just seems a bit odd that without any notice or indication whatsoever that your employer can use your holidays to cover when the company is closed.

If you think that one through - no one could ever refuse a holiday request and everything would be closed during the summer.

Kev_2012

Just checking to make sure! I like be thorough with these things and unless something has been explicitly explained to me, I tend to get suspicious. Better safe than sorry I suppose!

LowKeyReturn

Kev_2012 wrote: »

Just checking to make sure! I like be thorough with these things and unless something has been explicitly explained to me, I tend to get suspicious. Better safe than sorry I suppose!

To be fair - yes it is.