Refused annual leave................

[J4g3d]

Hi guys,

 

I have been with my current employer for 5 years and the maximum i have taken off for annual leave is 2 weeks during this period. However in december 2012 myself and my family planned to meet up for the first time in august 2013. So decemeber 2012 i got in there first to request annual leave with my line manager along with a couple other holiday requests before that time (odd few days..etc). The odd few days got accepted but he mentioned for 3 weeks off (i work 4 days per week) have to go through a director and that he will get back to me.

 

Its now july and 3 weeks till i have a non refundable very important holiday to take and despite contacting various managers face to face and via email (6 times now) i have had zero response.

 

Furthermore there are 2 or 3 of my colleagues that have young thai girlfriends that causes them to take 3 to 4 weeks off and sometimes twice per year every year without fail. They never get rejected or ignored.

 

I also spoke to 2 of my other colleagues and they have been accepted to take 2 and a half weeks off and 1 week respectively during the time period i want off. These colleagues requested this holiday 3 months AFTER i requested it and they work 5 days a week.

 

I understand the law states the employer can basically choose when i take off on annual leave, but due to the time frame i have given them and the fact they have accepted other colleagues requests after my request for the same time frame AND the fact certain other colleagues get 3 to 4 weeks off each time every single year do i have any sort of case to take this up with anyone?

 

i really feel discriminated ever since i raised a issue with HR about not willing to defraud customers out of money and fiddle the figures.

 

Really appreciate some advice.

[Sidewinder]

So has nobody actually agreed to the holiday request? At what level have you pursued this - how many times have you chased up the request?

 

Discrimination only becomes a consideration if there is a protected characteristic at stake (sex, race, religion, age, disability etc) and frankly this sounds more like poor management to me. Have others actually had holiday agreed for the same dates that you were hoping to take off?

 

I think this probably comes under the heading of a grievance. If the holiday had actually been agreed, then you would be on firmer ground, as the employer would then have to give twice the notice for you to cancel holiday than the period that you had requested - eg for three weeks holiday booked the employer would need to give six weeks notice that the agreement was being withdrawn.

 

As things stand this could get very awkward, as it seems that you have booked and paid for transport for a holiday that the employer had not agreed to. They are bound to say that there is a clear holiday policy which includes not making arrangements until dates are agreed, and they could quite easily say that you have not done this.

 

So - a grievance on the grounds that you have not had holiday confirmed that was requested many months ago in accordance with the policy relating to holiday booking, and that others have not been subjected to the same conditions (ie senior approval) that have been applied to you. You are asking for confirmation that the holiday requested in December will be authorised and that you were forced to book travel in view of the escalating cost as the date got nearer, and that you were led to believe that the agreement to your request would be a formality.

[J4g3d]

So has nobody actually agreed to the holiday request? At what level have you pursued this - how many times have you chased up the request?

 

Discrimination only becomes a consideration if there is a protected characteristic at stake (sex, race, religion, age, disability etc) and frankly this sounds more like poor management to me. Have others actually had holiday agreed for the same dates that you were hoping to take off?

 

I think this probably comes under the heading of a grievance. If the holiday had actually been agreed, then you would be on firmer ground, as the employer would then have to give twice the notice for you to cancel holiday than the period that you had requested - eg for three weeks holiday booked the employer would need to give six weeks notice that the agreement was being withdrawn.

 

As things stand this could get very awkward, as it seems that you have booked and paid for transport for a holiday that the employer had not agreed to. They are bound to say that there is a clear holiday policy which includes not making arrangements until dates are agreed, and they could quite easily say that you have not done this.

 

So - a grievance on the grounds that you have not had holiday confirmed that was requested many months ago in accordance with the policy relating to holiday booking, and that others have not been subjected to the same conditions (ie senior approval) that have been applied to you. You are asking for confirmation that the holiday requested in December will be authorised and that you were forced to book travel in view of the escalating cost as the date got nearer, and that you were led to believe that the agreement to your request would be a formality.

 

Thank you for your input,

 

Nobody has agreed to my holiday request, just completely ignored on 4 occasions from 2 different line managers and 1 operational manager. I was just writing a email out now again to my OPS manager but last time i spoke to him he said 'ask your line manager' im literally going around in circles.

 

The reason i say discrimination is because i mentioned to HR once before that i had no intentions to defraud customers out of money and fiddle/lie about where i am what i am doing to defraud customers. Effectively pretending to finish a job within an allocated time frame so the employer can profit from it. I mentioned this and raised this issue with HR which i was firmly told this is not happening despite proof in writing from the horses mouth of these goings on. In terms of myself i am male, the youngest of the group (30), have had tietze syndrome recently which effects my daily job in my normal field of work, i am mixed race and non religious. There are no black or asian managers at any level within the company and the company are pretty big (sites around europe too). I honestly think this current set up are racist towards other colleagues for sure. And possibly against me for being the only one to speak up about the whistleblowing issue.

 

The company in question went through around 3 or 4 layers of complete management in the last 3 years and the current management are all promoted from very lower positions without any managerial skills to their names. They went through a huge era of getting rid of dead wood as they say by making alot of redundancies, and the work load now is incredible with huge amount of pressure. This alone has not helped with taking holidays and very often they ask us to push our holiday to the next year..so its an on going rolling holiday most of the time.

 

Now do i do a grievance on my line manager, my ops manager, a director? the company? I've never done this before.

[Emmzzi]

A grievance starts at the lowest point possible so the appeal has somewhere to go. If it is about your line manager, it goes to their boss.

 

Be are you shoud not have booked flights without signed off holiday, so any financial loss is yours alone to carry.

[J4g3d]

A grievance starts at the lowest point possible so the appeal has somewhere to go. If it is about your line manager, it goes to their boss.

 

Be are you shoud not have booked flights without signed off holiday, so any financial loss is yours alone to carry.

 

My line manager and his manager have both ignored me. So i do raise a grievance on the both of them?

[tezza1234]

My line manager and his manager have both ignored me. So i do raise a grievance on the both of them?

 

Yes but you send the grievance to the next person up eg the line manager's manager's manager lol

[MadScouser]

Surely if they haven't officially refused the holiday request they cannot now do this, as they need to give 6 weeks notice?

[Sidewinder]

Surely if they haven't officially refused the holiday request they cannot now do this, as they need to give 6 weeks notice?

 

The problem with that argument is that neither have they agreed to the holiday request either. Unless there are signed holiday forms (or whatever means the employer uses to confirm or deny holiday applications), then ultimately somebody will state that a formal request was never made, and certainly has not been accepted so the OP will be expected to attend work as normal.

[J4g3d]

Thanks for the help guys, i have spoke to my managers manager on the phone for 5 mins or so and i told him i have had legal advice to open a grievance 'but i dont want to do it in all honestly'. I also mentioned to HR without opening a greivance and to my shock i got a email the same day confirming the holiday request.

 

Sometimes you can 'threaten' in a sense and push them almost to the boundary to get a answer. I would of preferred them to say NO to me than to ignore me for 8 months! that was my point.

[Sidewinder]

Congratulations. Enjoy your holiday!