Too much holiday

[markpb]

Hi there,
I'm looking for a bit of advice before taking this further.
By the end of the year a salaried employee will have taken more holiday than he is entitled. His manager has not kept a proper record and the employee has taken more as he has not been challenged. It the moment he is a day over his amount, without taking into account that he knows he has to take another 3 at the Christmas close. Is there anything we should/could do here?

Thanks.
mark.

 

[Newchodge]

Have a meeting with him and explain the situation.

You could offer to allow him to choose whether to take the 4 days as unpaid leave or whether to anticipate 4 days of next year's holiday.

You must ensure that he has 4 weeks paid holiday next year (which can include paid bank holidays).

You need to hold discussions with the manager about how this came about, and look at some training on holiday procedures. Possibly you also need more robust holiday procedures.

 

[danieldd]

On the legal part, I think the days the employee took over the allowed ones, should be charged from his salary. Newchodge's suggestion is exactly what you should do - give him a choice.

 

[AndrewEardley]

In the interest of being a "nice employer" and seeing as it isn't solely the employees fault (50/50 culpability could be argued) you could come to an agreement that he pays back 2 days and you write off 2 days?

The manager shouldn't have allowed the extra days to be booked, but equally he should know what he is entitled to and shouldn't have booked more.

 

[Employment Law Clinic]

Details (precise quotes) of what the employment contract says about holidays over the Christmas period & the year as a whole would be helpful.

Has the actual leave that would take the worker over the allowance been agreed & taken?

Is there a recovery mechanism in the contract for excessive leave?


If they are agreeable, you could try to take leave from the following year's allowance, but this is not a guarantee you would be ok, as legally (reg 13A (7) of the Working Time Regs 1998), leave can be carried forward; there is no equal provision to carry it back, which would be required in this instance.


Karl Limpert