Work looking to cancel part of my annual leave.

LegacyUser

Interested in getting people's opinions on this. I am fuming!

Firstly, I am not one for taking leave or missing work, I have taken one day off in the past six months and no sick days. I have to travel abroad for a family function in early April and given that I knew this last December, I booked two weeks annual leave in January of this year for April. The leave was approved by my manager and signed off officially by HR in the annual leave system in January.

A new employee joined my team in January at the same grade. He has been getting preferential treatment; leaving early, coming in late since day one. It has been noted and commented on by a number of team members. On Monday morning, we were discussing plans for the weeks ahead and whilst the work was being allocated, this individual announced to the team, including our manager, that he is taking the first week in April off. This request had not been approved or even submitted at this point. The manager told him that they would discuss the request.

Anyway, I was called into a meeting room today and told I needed to cut my leave short, by three days, as my colleague is taking leave and one of us needs to be present to cover the work load. I argued that my leave has been approved since January and he has only submitted his now but I was told that it is not possible to cancel his leave at this point and "the work needs to be done". My leave has not been altered in the HR system, as of now. How best should I handle this? What rights do I have?

therecklessone

Hi OP,

There is nothing in employment legislation that explicitly states that once leave is approved it cannot be cancelled, however the law does state:

Times and pay for annual leave.

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.

Source

I would argue that:

1. Your employer needs to take into account your need to reconcile work and family responsibilities (your family function)

2. The fact that you have had your leave approved already meets clause 20 (1) (b)

What you do now is really dependant on you. I would tell my employer that I was taking the leave regardless, that I had applied and received approval prior to this other person joining the company, and if they took any disciplinary action against me I would make a complaint under the Working Time Act to a Rights Commissioner.

But that's just me, and I am a cantankerous so and so

Seriously though, what is the leave policy in your company? Is it first come first served? Or done on seniority? If you have complied with company policy and received approval then I cannot fathom how they think this is now acceptable to change your leave period.

gandalf

The fact the leave was initially cleared and that you have made arrangements based on the good faith that the leave was granted should be pointed out to your HR explicitly. The fact that you put your request in a timely fashion to allow the company check and confirm it wasn't an issue for them should be pointed out to them. The fact that it is a family event (I assume a wedding) and not standard holidays should also be pointed out to them.

From my perspective you did everything right. I wouldn't say a thing about the new colleague getting preferential treatment (it just screams conspiracy theory), I would concentrate on the fact you put your request in a timely fashion, it was cleared by your direct manager and then by HR. I would ask them that it is reasonable to expect to be able to book a holiday based on this and to ask them is this not the case and if you have made commitments based on the initial clearance what compensation is available to you if they do a u-turn as they have considering this is a family event and not just a holiday? I would then ask them to confirm in writing that this is company policy to u-turn on leave even when it has been cleared by the direct manager and HR.

Mrs OBumble

I'd agree with what gandalf said.

But in the background, you need to be working out why the new colleague is getting this treatment. Probably he's either got something (skill etc) that you haven't got, is related to someone or is sleeping with someone. To protect yourself, you need to be aware of this - even if all you do about it is watch what you say in certain circumstances.

gandalf

They could have also flagged this leave when they joined and management didn't process it.

From reading the OP where you state that you both work as part of a team I would be concerned that there isn't enough bandwidth to allow both of you to be out of the office at the same time for a relatively short period of three days? Is the job a particularly mission critical one?

LegacyUser

Many thanks for your replies. No movement in relation to the leave situation today. My leave is still approved. In response to your replies, the work is certainly not mission critical. It is standard day-to-day work, as far as I have been told.

We do get ad-hoc requests from top level execs but that might occur once a month, if at all. My colleague or I usually have to deal with these requests. Our managerial staff tend to go into a panic when they come in, so I suspect that they want one of us around to cover such an event.

I am unsure what to make of the situation with my new colleague. I hold the same role in the team but have always been required to take the lead on work and have been explicitly asked to focus on helping him adapt to the position. I got talking to him today about his leave and he informed me that he needs to take the week off because his in-laws are coming to visit. I plan on bringing up the issue with my manager tomorrow and pointing out that my leave is for a family event abroad. Would you advise bringing in the flights to prove that I am going abroad?

gandalf

TBH I would stand your ground on this. I'm sure if push comes to shove one of the management team can stand in and sort out an adhoc report. Trying to deny you leave that has already been approved at the last minute for a "just in case" scenario is pathetic and stinks of bad management (obviously don't say that to them). I am also at a loss as to why they didn't push this back on the new colleague as he will still be in this country whereas you are traveling abroad.

Good luck and enjoy you family event.