How much annual leave can be taken?
The amount of statutory leave to which an employee is entitled is implemented through Section 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the Working Time Directive. These pieces of statute provide workers with the right to a total of 5.6 weeks of annual leave per year, this equates to 28 days (including Bank Holidays). However, some contracts of employment provide for more annual leave than the statutory minimum. Some workers are also able to purchase additional annual leave from their employer depending on their own internal policies.
Full-time workers are entitled to the full 28 days of annual leave pro-rated for part-time workers.
Under the Working Time Regulations, there is no statutory right to carry over any annual leave from one year to the next, and many employers operate a “use it or lose it” policy.
Some employers allow a limited amount of leave to be carried forward from one year to the next, which is typically addressed in staff contracts or the company’s holiday policy. Employers must provide staff with sufficient information about their right to paid holiday and give them ample opportunity to take such leave.
Can a request for annual leave be refused?
Employers are well within their rights to refuse a request for annual leave from an employee where there is a good business reason for doing so, for example if they are asking to take time off during a busy period for the business or when several other employees will also be on holiday. However, employers are not allowed to prevent workers from using their full annual leave entitlement within the holiday year.
Employers can also cancel pre-booked holidays, although if they do so they must give staff at least the same days’ notice as the original holiday request. For example, where someone has booked 10 days off, their employer must give notice of cancellation at least 10 days before the holiday starts. Of course, the impact on morale and employer relations should be considered before taking such steps and shouldn’t be done without a clear need to do it.
How much notice should be given to an employer when booking annual leave?
Typically, twice as many days’ notice, should be given to the amount of leave requested. For example, if a week’s holiday is required, two weeks’ notice should be provided to an employer. However, in practice an employer may expect that staff provide them with more notice as they may need to put plans into place to cover work during absence.
An employer must apply the same principle if they intend to tell staff when to take leave, for example where there is to be a period of shut down.
What if an employee has run out of annual leave?
If annual leave allowance for the year has been exhausted, it may be possible to take unpaid leave. Unpaid leave can be requested when there are unexpected circumstances that require time off work and usually comes down to the employer’s discretion. There are no fixed rules about the amount of unpaid leave that can be taken. However, the reason for and duration of the leave should be discussed, and an agreement reached.
Depending on their length of service and employment status, working parents may be also entitled to take up to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave to care for their child prior to their 18th birthday. This entitlement applies per child. There are a few caveats to this however, and (unless the employer agrees otherwise) staff are only able to use 4 weeks’ leave per year in respect of each child which must be taken as whole weeks (e.g. 1 week) rather than individual days.
An employee must also provide their employer with 21 days’ notice of their intention to take parental leave. Where this leave is due to start from the birth of their child then an employer cannot refuse, but at any other time an employer can seek to postpone the leave if they believe that it would have a detrimental effect on their business. They must consult with the employee to establish the most suitable time for the parental leave to be taken.
If you need advice on your holiday entitlement rights, contact our Employment Law team on 03456 465 465 or email enquiries@rotherabray.co.uk
