Boss refusing holidays

[sarah1979]

Hi, i'm new here and hope someone can give us some advice.

I work in a big department store, we are allowed 5.6 weeks holiday a year. We have always allowed to book holidays whenever we want to (except christmas and busy periods) our staff handbook says we have to give 3 weeks notice to book a holiday.

 

Our boss left in September and a new boss started in December. In January she asked everyone in the shop (55 of us) to book all our holidays for the whole year. This caused a little bit of a commotion because no one knew when they wanted their holidays all year, especially all the 16 year olds. Well we all ended up trying to book our years worth of holiday (even though the handbook says 3 weeks).

 

I say trying because everyone who put in holidays for weekends had them declined. The new boss said that we are not allowed to book weekends off and we are only allowed to book whole weeks. So this is why I am here, none of us are happy with this. Some of the people have worked there since it opened 5 years ago and have always been allowed to book weekends with the old boss.

Someone else who works there has a husband who works for the same company but in a different town and this hasnt been passed to them so its just a thing our new boss is doing.

 

We all just want to know if she is allowed to do this? Tell us all of a sudden after 5 years that weekends are not allowed to be booked off.

 

Thanks

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG. I expect the forum guys will be along later with advice for you.

 

If the company has more than one store, is there an HR department that you could check with? And do you have a copy of the staff booklet with the holiday policy in it?

 

My best, HB

[Emmzzi]

The company can tell you exactly when you can take your holidays. So yes.

 

I might politely enquire why there has been a change rather that get into a debate about rights that you will not win.

[sarah1979]

Hi. Yes I have a hand book it says this -

 

HOLIDAYS

 

You are entitled to 28 days pro rata paid during a complete holiday year. You must give 3 weeks written notice to your line manager.

 

Thats all the staff handbook says.

 

We also have contracts that mention holidays and they say this -

 

Your are entitled to 28 days pro rata paid during a complete holiday year. For part years employment full months worked will be calculated. It is your responsibility to ensure you use your allocated holiday entitlement each year; any outstanding balabce cannot be paid or rolled over to the following year. The timing of your holiday must be agreed in advance with your line manager. Pre booking holidays will be subject to criteria, which permits a maximum of collegues to be on holiday at any one time.

 

Thats all we have from the company to do with holidays and how they are booked.

 

The company has nearly100 shops but we dont have a HR department. The owner famously done an interview on TV stating he dont have a HR dept and he basically thinks HR is a load of crap, many people didnt believe this but its true. There is one man in head office who all staff are told to send any complaints etc too but they never ever get answered by him. He passes them back to the store manager to deal with.

We have spoke about writing a letter to him from all staff but we think he will just send it to our manager to deal with.

No complaints ever get upheld or dealt with.

One time a manager locked the doors after closing time and wouldnt let anyone leave for 45 minutes and he was swearing at staff and telling the young girls to ''stick things up their arses'' in the following days 9 people wrote complaints to the man in ''HR'' he passed it back to the store and told the store manager to deal with it. Nothing was done because there was so many complaints against him the store manager said it was a witch hunt so there was nothing he could do.

This is what we work with, we dont like it but we need to work. But none of us are happy with this no weekends thing and really want to know if she is allowed to do this.

[renegadeimp]

One time a manager locked the doors after closing time and wouldnt let anyone leave for 45 minutes and he was swearing at staff and telling the young girls to ''stick things up their arses'' in the following days 9 people wrote complaints to the man in ''HR'' he passed it back to the store and told the store manager to deal with it. Nothing was done because there was so many complaints against him the store manager said it was a witch hunt so there was nothing he could do.

 

And not once did you contact a union rep/union solicitor or the CEO of the company?

[Emmzzi]

They can tell you exactly what days you have to take your holiday if you like and you get no say in it. That is what the law says. Plenty factories run that way.

 

This is not the battle to pick.

 

All of you need to get yourselves in a union.

[sarah1979]

I wasnt there for that. I only started a few months after. Its often talked about and a few of the staff that were there said that they complained to head office and the area manager and it all went back to the store manager to deal with. The CEO - he only visits our store 2-3 times a year and when he does he ogles the young girls, openly calls a gay staff member poof etc. He tells unrepeatable 'jokes'. He is the same in every store he visits. The company are terrible to work for but we need to work to earn money so we put up with it. If I could name the company and the owner and you looked on fb or forums you will get an idea of what its like.

 

Thanks for replying EMMZZI, we just want to know if it was allowed. We all have asked and she said its just the way she is running things now. I guess we will have to suck it up.

Thanks again

[Emmzzi]

Join. A. Union.

[renegadeimp]

You do realise that if your accusations about the CEO are true, you can take legal action against him right?

 

With all the problems you have, i suggest looking for another job. Your current one isnt worth the stress. Especially if the CEO himself is guilty of sexual harassment.

[sarah1979]

Well I really like my job. I am good at what I do. We are lucky the owner doesnt do visits very often, I have only spoke to him once and stay well out of his way when he does visit. Its the same in all hundred or so stores he has. Because there is no real HR or anything no one is ever held accountable for anything. Dont get me wrong we have 6 managers in my shop and 5 of them are great. All the staff are all very friendly and we all just try and get on with our work. Its not absolutely terrible. Yes the owner is a total pig but everyone avoids him when he visits. We have one manager whos a bully to ... well, everyone but the other managers usually step in when it gets too bad.

 

A few of us have spoken about joining a union and I thinks that the road we will go down. Thanks for your advice

[renegadeimp]

You may like the job. but is it worth the stress and possible illness over the way you are all being treated? There are other jobs out there. if you choose to stay in your current employment, you and others really need to start standing up for yourselves. Dont be confrontational, or you will be dismissed. Follow the law, and the right way of doing things, and you can get it sorted.

 

Regarding unions, just remember that your workplace doesnt have to acknowledge a union, but they do have to respect your choice of joining one. If all of you joint he union, then the pressure will be on him to acknowledge and start doing things properly.

[rambo]

Join. A. Union.

 

Won't make a difference......

[ericsbrother]

It would make a difference if you all joined a union.

The law on holidays is from the Working Time Directive and sets out the minimum holiday allowed and how you apply for it and what your employer must do if they cant agree with the time requested. Many industrial companies still have holiday closures so that needs no sorting but in your case your em-ployer is obliged to give an operational reason for refusing requests for holiday time that have been applied for in the correct manner. The blanket "you cant book weekends" isnt really an operational reason but each individual application could be refused for that reason so you need to read through paperwork on what your rights are and if you are desparate for a particular date and it is turned down you can challenge that. Having said that, your employer is actually creating a problem for themselves by this blanket ban as it means that there will be a staff shortage at particular times and they will have problems with that.

[renegadeimp]

Won't make a difference......

 

You're wrong. But everyones entitled to their own opinion.