Holiday

We have **** holidays in work to start.21 days.
Then on top of that we must take good friday and this year we must take 5 days (out our annual leave ) for christmas.

21 - 1 - 5 leaves us with 15 days we can actually take.
Is this legal ?
full 40 hours working week.

Thanks

Midnight_EG

Most places will give you 25/26 days and after adjustment for those compulsory days you'll have 20/21.

Midnight_EG

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Most places will give you 25/26 days and after adjustment for those compulsory days you'll have 20/21.

Thanks,
I suppose I'm asking about the legality of forcing someone to use their annual leave.

Phileas Frog

BrownFinger wrote: »

We have **** holidays in work to start.21 days.
Then on top of that we must take good friday and this year we must take 5 days (out our annual leave ) for christmas.

21 - 1 - 5 leaves us with 15 days we can actually take.
Is this legal ?
full 40 hours working week.

Thanks

Yes it's legal. Your employer decides when you take your holidays, not you

Vologda69

I started on 20 days annual leave in my current private sector job. I get an extra days annual leave for each additional two years of service. I take Xmas as unpaid leave. Hence why I want to get back into the public service.

iwillhtfu

BrownFinger wrote: »

Thanks,
I suppose I'm asking about the legality of forcing someone to use their annual leave.

It's quite a common practice and typically staff are asked to retain xx days from their annual leave allowance to cover christmas period and there would be no days on top as suggested by the comment above. Check your contract it will lay out your leave entitlements etc. Some companies allow you to take enforced days as unpaid leave which means you will be able to take your holidays at another date.

Are you only new to the role? 20 days is the typical starting point and days are accrued through time served. A more senior role may possibly negotiate more holidays.

28064212

BrownFinger wrote: »

Is this legal ?

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

The Act provides for a basic annual paid leave entitlement of 4 weeks, although an employee's contract could give greater rights.

It is for your employer to decide when annual leave may be taken, but this is subject to a number of conditions.

Some jobs would require you to take two weeks of your leave at a specific time of the year (e.g. a factory that shuts down for scheduled maintenance during a low demand)

Hoboo

You'll see in your contract a section about reserving rights and suiting business requirements. Holds fook all weight vs family and personal needs. For example, I'd you want to take 2 weeks in summer when the kids are off school, nothing to stop you. So companies don't decide when you take holidays, you decide, but they grant them. For example , they could say no to June, provided July or August is available. But they can't say no to all 3, as family demands must be met.

Regarding taking days for Christmas, I don't agree with it but yes, they can ask you to reserve some days. 21 days is pretty pathetic but it's the norm for starting or lower skilled roles.

Other option you have is to take good Friday or Christmas as unpaid leave, which id imagine you wouldn't want to do.

Failing that, few sick days and force majeure days are your only other options.

Darc19

Hope the OP never moves to the USA -

Here you get a statutory 29 days paid leave including bank holidays. Which is quite generous.

In the USA there is no statutory leave and average is 10 days in total.

What your employer is doing is totally legal and quite standard.

In trades such as construction and factory work most of the statutory leave is at fixed times of the year.

28064212

Darc19 wrote: »

Here you get a statutory 31 days paid leave including bank holidays. Which is quite generous.

29, no? There are only 9 public holidays, and 20 days statutory leave

Session2019!

Pretty normal for an employer to state when annual leave is taken. Thanfully i have 31 days leave excluding public holidays so never have ti worry about the xmas period

Grand,
I don't work very hard and i'm home by 5 every day so it's something I have put up .
it's usually 3 days for christmas but this year is taking the piss.

Darc19

28064212 wrote: »

29, no? There are only 9 public holidays, and 20 days statutory leave

Yep, edited post.

GBX

BrownFinger wrote: »

Grand,
I don't work very hard and i'm home by 5 every day so it's something I have put up .
it's usually 3 days for christmas but this year is taking the piss.

Between 3-4 would be normal but every so often theres the 5 for Christmas. Not ideal. But talk to the company and see if you can work over the christmas.

C3PO

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Most places will give you 25/26 days and after adjustment for those compulsory days you'll have 20/21.

I'm not sure about that - most businesses that I'm aware of offer 21 days to new starters!

splinter65

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Most places will give you 25/26 days and after adjustment for those compulsory days you'll have 20/21.

Not true at all.

Midnight_EG

splinter65 wrote: »

Not true at all.

Of 5 places I've worked in the last 12 years, they all have so that says something about where I've been maybe

Salary Negotiator

I wouldn't accept a job that gives less then 25 days leave, particularly if there are set days when leave must be taken.

skallywag

BrownFinger wrote: »

Grand,
I don't work very hard and i'm home by 5 every day so it's something I have put up .
it's usually 3 days for christmas but this year is taking the piss.

We also have times during the year when everyone is asked to take leave, but I am always open to individual cases. Over the Christmas period the vast majority of staff want time off that week anyway, but I have had cases where I have been approached to see whether working that week would be possible. If the person in question can function (and be relied on) on their own then I have never had an issue with it and have approved it.

Have you approached your boss with such a request?

By the way if your 21 days are no including bank holidays then I think you need to re-calibrate your expectation of what is the norm.

skallywag

Salary Negotiator wrote: »

I wouldn't accept a job that gives less then 25 days leave, particularly if there are set days when leave must be taken.

That is a very good point. The amount of days given for annual leave is something which can be very open to negotiation during the hiring phase, and one of the things where the employer can quite easily be more generous on, if it means securing a candidate who has made a very good impression.

OP, for the future do your negotiating up front rather than whinging retrospectively that you think you have been given a raw deal.

splinter65

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Of 5 places I've worked in the last 12 years, they all have so that says something about where I've been maybe

It must because statutory annual leave is 20 days and 9 public public holidays.

The_Conductor

Vologda69 wrote: »

I started on 20 days annual leave in my current private sector job. I get an extra days annual leave for each additional two years of service. I take Xmas as unpaid leave. Hence why I want to get back into the public service.

The civil service are open over Christmas- with the exception of the actual public holidays. Aka this year:

Mon 23rd Dec - OPEN
Tue 24th Dec - OPEN
Wed 25th Dec - CLOSED
Thurs 26th Dec - CLOSED
Fri 27th Dec - OPEN
Mon 30th Dec - OPEN
Tue 31st Dec - OPEN
Wed 1st Jan - CLOSED

In the public sector- you tend to get either Christmas - or the New Year period- not both- and it comes out of your annual leave- not in addition to your annual leave. It depends on what section you're in, but more often than not there will be sections that are staffed by parents of young families- so there is a game of compromise- and breaks get split to try and accommodate the requests of as many people as possible.


Also- you most certainly do not get an extra day every two years in the civil service- standard (for clerical staff) is 22 days A/L rising to 23 days after 5 years' service, 24 days after 10 years, 25 days after 12 years service and 26 after 14 years service (and it doesn't go any higher- unless you get promoted into a more senior grade that has better annual leave entitlements).

theteal

I feel your pain, OP. Well I did up to a week ago. I lasted a total of 7 months and 1 day in my last job - a primary bone of contention was that they only gave 20 days (even though HR assured me it was 25, to get me to sign the contract) and upon starting I learned that I was losing 3 of those for xmas. I came from a company that gave 25 + 2 extra for the xmas break. Anyway, I used all those 17 days within 7 months and thankfully got a pretty sweet job offer while I was on one of the last few days of that annual leave.

It's funny that when I gave my notice, they somehow managed to come up with the revised contract offer for the additional days and medical etc, the usual.