Advice on unauthorised holiday.

[LostForWords]

Hi,

I would appreciate it if someone could advise me on a situation with a staff member.
I run a day nursery and i have 2 members of staff who have booked holiday dates at the same time that have been authorised (they are not going on holiday together) . I have a 3rd member of staff that has decided she wants to go on holiday with one of the other staff members mentioned above and has booked a holiday without first authorising the leave with me. Being a nursery we have to have strict child to staff ratios and I can not have 3 members of staff off together because of this. I have told her that she can not take the holidays but she replied that theyre booked and shes taking them anyway. Where do I stand if she goes? Do I have grounds for dismissal? I cant just have staff taking holidays when it suits them without approval from me first.

Thanks
M

 

[Gecko001]

Looks like that the staff member who told you that she is going anyway is saying that her holidays are more important than her job. Dismissal seems to be your only option if you want to maintain discipline within your business.

 

[LostForWords]

Thanks for the reply Gecko001. Yes it seems the holiday is more important and i dont want all staff to think they can do what they want. We are always as flexible as we can be with staff but this time we juat cant accomodate it.
Do you know if she would have grounds for unlawful dismissal if she was sacked on these grounds. I need to protect the business.

 

[Newchodge]

Do you have a holiday policy, stating that staff should not assume that holidays will be authorised and should not make bookings until authorisation is given? Does your policy state that no more than x members of staff may be on holiday at the same time?

Whether you have such a policy or not, and you really should have, I would recommend writing formally to the member of staff concerned, repeating that the holiday dates she has requested cannot be authorised as it will mean that the nursery cannot meet its legal obligaitons. State that you expect her to be at work on the relevant dates, and if she fails to attend work, for whatever reason (as she may pull a sickie) you will commence disciplinary proceedings for an unauthrised absence. The potential outcome of those proceedings can include summary dismissal (dismissal without notice) for gross misconduct.

If she doesn't come to work take the appropriate steps in line with your disciplinary procedure and, if you consider it is justified, dismiss her with or without notice.

Please tell me that you do have a disciplinary procedure.

 

[Deleted member 307691]

Totally with @Newchodge on this one.

If you want an example letter you can 'test drive' a website for one of my clients and get free access to all sorts of templates for 6 months. let me know if that's of interest. It can be hard to get the tone right and if it does get out of hand then your paper trail will be important.

 

[Bob Morgan]

With the business having just four 'Personalities,' have you tried talking to them about it? Any Resignation or Dismissal will carry a hidden burden in terms of Recruitment, Engagement and Probation for a replacement. In the future, it might be worthwhile having a 'Leave Calendar' on the wall!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

How long has she been employed, if under 2 years then you can just let her go, Plenty of advice on the forum about how to do it and what precautions on discrimination you need to make

 

[tony84]

I used to work for a bank when around 10 years ago.
I requested the following day off work, they told me I can not have it. I did not turn up.
I went in to my disciplinary and basically expected to be sacked. They gave me a warning saying that their HR people should have tried to make some sort of effort to come to a compromise - ie half a day or change my shift.

Slightly different in that I gave them no notice and I also only wanted a day - but I did it thinking/knowing I would be dismissed. It was only because my manager stepped in and thought my corner that I kept my job - added tot he fact that I had been promoted in less than 12 months, never late, never ill, never anything other than being a good employee. My manager took the view that it must have been important to me and I was worth keeping.

Im not sure on the point I am making, but surely this member of staff must know or suspect they will not have a job to come back to. I have been where your employee is and I would still get rid of them if they did not turn up. To be completely honest with you, if they left it until the time of their holiday saying they are still going on holiday but then turned up for work as normal, I would still be looking to get rid of them. Having been in business there is stress everywhere, the last thing you need is some tard playing silly games.

I can not add anything helpful to the post though.

 

[MikeJ]

If she doesn't come to work take the appropriate steps in line with your disciplinary procedure and, if you consider it is justified, dismiss her with or without notice.

Presumably they can't be disciplined until they've not shown up?

In an ideal world, they'd get rid now and train a replacement between now and the holiday time, but I guess that's not practical here?

 

[The Byre]

Follow Cyndy's advice to the letter! In particular, follow her advice on doing things formally and in writing.

Bandying words with people when incomes are at stake is futile and usually destructive.

 

[Newchodge]

Presumably they can't be disciplined until they've not shown up?

In an ideal world, they'd get rid now and train a replacement between now and the holiday time, but I guess that's not practical here?

You may just get away with demanding a written undertaking that they will attend work, and dismissing if it is not forthcoming, but if she has 2 years service I wouldn't risk it.

In reality there will need to be a period of hiring and training at some point, but starting it before she has committed the gross misconduct would be a bit difficult to justify if it came to an unfair dismissal claim.