Holiday 'ban' during 'busy' periods

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Without going into a bit of a rant about what’s happened this week. I just want to know if anyones ever had a holiday ‘ban’ during a supposedly busy week (Even though it’s just like any other week…) and whether companies are actually allowed to bring such things in? As I (And many other people) were told this at the start of this week that we weren’t allowed to take holidays this week due to a busy period yet the manager who told us this had 2 days off at the end of the week :unamused: :unamused: I won’t go into the rest as I’m trying to not let it stress me out :grimacing:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

2

yes firm i work for has a holiday ban in place from end of july till end of september because thats when work is flat out due too the grain harvest .

3

not the first time i have heard of this I have been told before not allowed holiday at certain time of year or no more then any 2 drivers off at the same time in a busy time

4

I think it depends on what your contract says. I worked for waitrose when I was a kid, and they banned hols in December.
I’ve been asked to swap days when busy, but I was allowed the cancelled day at very short notice. Our concrete mixing subsidiary are a right bunch of hitlers from what I’ve been told; Drivers having long booked leave cancelled because they’re busy. Then again, they think that the drivers should put job before homelife.
One side of the firm I’ll never work for…

5

Yep, when I was on the airport (airside, not the freight), you couldn’t have holidays at xmas

6

I understand if companies are actually busy and they don’t want people taking time off but it’s when they state they’re ‘busy’ and ban people taking holidays yet it’s been more quiet than busy and the manager has taken time off himself :confused: It contradicts the two IMO

Needless to say they started letting people go early today and I wasn’t of those asked if I would like to go early even though I booked a day and a half off for the end of this week last tuesday night (First day off last weeks shifts) It was one of the managers whom I asked at the start of the week about the days I booked to tell another manager to authorize it as originally the manager doing the holidays wasn’t going to. I could understand if it was short notice but I booked well in advance but the problem with the shift I work is when it comes to holidays you have to keep pestering them about them yet the other shift they sort it out there and then for you :imp:

Also just to add we weren’t given any warning of this it was a case of just springing it on us at the last minute :unamused: How I’m glad I have 4 days off to chill out :laughing:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

7

jonnytruckfest:
I understand if companies are actually busy and they don’t want people taking time off but it’s when they state they’re ‘busy’ and ban people taking holidays yet it’s been more quiet than busy and the manager has taken time off himself :confused: It contradicts the two IMO

Needless to say they started letting people go early today and I wasn’t of those asked if I would like to go early even though I booked a day and a half off for the end of this week last tuesday night (First day off last weeks shifts) It was one of the managers whom I asked at the start of the week about the days I booked to tell another manager to authorize it as originally the manager doing the holidays wasn’t going to. I could understand if it was short notice but I booked well in advance but the problem with the shift I work is when it comes to holidays you have to keep pestering them about them yet the other shift they sort it out there and then for you :imp:

Also just to add we weren’t given any warning of this it was a case of just springing it on us at the last minute :unamused: How I’m glad I have 4 days off to chill out :laughing:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

How close to funding your licence(s) are you now, so you can get out of that ■■■■ take of an ‘apprenticeship’ :question:

8

Not close enough I’m afraid! I still have my theory test to book but as I’m still failing mock HP tests it’s not expense I’m wanting to pay out knowing I’ll fail etc. But with how my instructor talks of my learning ability for driving he says that I’m picking things up rather fast and everything seems to be falling into place. But right now I’m hoping to be out asap but I’m not willing to risk leaving for agency work because at least I know my hours/money is guaranteed! But I’ve said it a million times it isn’t the job itself in fact I like the job I do it’s just the bunch of pricks who run this particular shift who I can’t stand :imp:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

9

Imagine if you’ve got your summer hols booked to go away, and the firm tries to cancel your leave. :open_mouth:

Take it as paid sick, and if and when the firm sacks you over it, there’s not a tribunal or court in the land that will uphold the firm’s side here! :smiling_imp:

Of course, if its on the contract things like “We reserve the right to steal your pay, cancel your holdays, and treat you badly with your signed agreement right here” then you don’t have much of a leg to stand on! :frowning:

10

re OP,
I think that the law gives you the right to days paid holiday per year (28?) but allows the boss to say when you are to take them.
In effect the boss could tell you to have January off as it’s very quiet.
It wouldn’t matter that your partner had different holiday dates, or that you needed school holidays etc.
I don’t think that there is even wriggle room in the rules by way of “reasonable notice etc”
Clearly most bosses will work with you and allow you to take them when you prefer.

while writing this appeared

Take it as paid sick, and if and when the firm sacks you over it, there’s not a tribunal or court in the land that will uphold the firm’s side here!

EVERY court or tribunal would uphold the bosses decision if you claim sick pay without actually being sick… it’s called fraud.

11

What’s paid sick leave?

12

It’s very common for emplyers to ‘ban’ holidays at times they expect to be busy. December is often a no-no in the transport business but while they may expect to be busy, and plan for it, then it may not be. Ce la vie.

As for the managment taking time off - in my experience many places work better when they aren’t there bossing people around.

13

Winseer:
Imagine if you’ve got your summer hols booked to go away, and the firm tries to cancel your leave. :open_mouth:

Take it as paid sick, and if and when the firm sacks you over it, there’s not a tribunal or court in the land that will uphold the firm’s side here! :smiling_imp:

Of course, if its on the contract things like “We reserve the right to steal your pay, cancel your holdays, and treat you badly with your signed agreement right here” then you don’t have much of a leg to stand on! :frowning:

That’s what I’m worried about in August as I have my holiday booked but I’m hoping they don’t say to me they’ve been cancelled although I doubt they can do that on such short notice like they did this time. And I wouldn’t pull a ‘sicky’ that’s something I used to do when I was in school i’d like to think I have grown out of that stage although I did hear of someones mum (He is about 40…) ringing in saying her son can’t come in because he had sickness and the trots…It does say in my staff handbook about not booking holidays in busy periods but that’s november/december time it says nothing about them springing it on us short notice etc.

del949:
re OP,
I think that the law gives you the right to days paid holiday per year (28?) but allows the boss to say when you are to take them.
In effect the boss could tell you to have January off as it’s very quiet.
It wouldn’t matter that your partner had different holiday dates, or that you needed school holidays etc.
I don’t think that there is even wriggle room in the rules by way of “reasonable notice etc”
Clearly most bosses will work with you and allow you to take them when you prefer.

while writing this appeared

Take it as paid sick, and if and when the firm sacks you over it, there’s not a tribunal or court in the land that will uphold the firm’s side here!

EVERY court or tribunal would uphold the bosses decision if you claim sick pay without actually being sick… it’s called fraud.

As read in my staff handbook I am entitled to 20 shifts off for this year taking out new year boxing day and christmas day and another holiday which gives me 16 shifts to have off however I please. As I said above I gave them at least a week to sort something out e.g fetch an additional agency worker in to cover while I’m away but imo it would have been nice to be told straight away if it was a yes or no not having to keep ‘pester’ them as described by one of the trainee managers. And unfortunately my boss isn’t like ‘most’ bosses…well not unless they’re short, balding bad tempered power mad idiots he’s not anyway.

Also as said above with pulling ‘sickys’ to get out of work. Something I did in school, not something I still practice :slight_smile:.

NathanB:
What’s paid sick leave?

I think it’s when you go off sick say if I had a heart attack I would still be paid while i’m off of work due to illness etc but I’m not 100% on that one :slight_smile:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

14

Santa:
It’s very common for emplyers to ‘ban’ holidays at times they expect to be busy. December is often a no-no in the transport business but while they may expect to be busy, and plan for it, then it may not be. Ce la vie.

As for the managment taking time off - in my experience many places work better when they aren’t there bossing people around.

To say they ‘planned’ is a very big understatement. They put on 3 night shifts this week and brought in a ■■■■ load of agency staff in during the day. It was guaranteed by 12pm we would be dead and set to be cleaning up and do the odd pick here or there. As I’ve previously said it was like any other week for us. And that sounds like my manager in a sense although he hardly ever seems to take time off but if this is anything to go by he takes time off when he thinks ■■■■ is going to hit the fan :unamused:

I just hope karma one day has it’s day for him.

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

15

And unfortunately my boss isn’t like ‘most’ bosses…well not unless they’re short, balding bad tempered power mad idiots

Most are Jonny!

16

What’s a holiday?

17

del949:

And unfortunately my boss isn’t like ‘most’ bosses…well not unless they’re short, balding bad tempered power mad idiots

Most are Jonny!

He puts it to a new level. IMO if he was running a haulage firm I doubt he would be in business for very long :open_mouth: And the reason things get done is the fact either A he threatens with people losing jobs if they don’t do as they’re told or B the line managers/trainee managers/other staff are picking up the ■■■■ he’s left behind trying to motivate the team members. And when asked next month about how it’s gone, I’m not too sure giving an honest opinion will keep me in a job :open_mouth:

Cheers

Jonny :sunglasses:

18

for christians Sunday is a holyday
for jews its Saturday that is the holyday
for Muslims Friday is a holyday
for me everday is a holiday!

19

I have worked at a couple of places that have been hell

Place no 1:-
You had to give 10 working days notice of one days holiday - no half days allowed
You had to give 25 working days notice of 5 days holiday - we never found out what happend if you wanted more than 5 cause no-one was ever there long enough and also see reason 3
You would be told on about the 15th ish of December how long your Christmas holiday would be - now this could vary from 3 and a half weeks to a month - or just 2 days - Crimbo Day and New Years Day - now god forbid you actually went away and were not availble for work over this period if they phoned you up cause something had gone wrong on one of the sewers. So all your holiday would be gone - holiday period ran over a year but from November 25th to November 24th - so you would end up with no holiday left if they were quiet.

Place no 2:-
You were only allowed 1 person off at a time during school holidays… yep you guessed it… I never got a holiday off as by the time the rota had gone up on the board I was already on a run, and by the time I got back all the holidays had been booked. One of the lads tried to book it for me and was threatened with the sack… I then left and went to work for my dad - sometimes it really is better the devil you know ! (and :smiley: the grandkids do his head in after a few hours :smiley: )

20

When at ASDA Washington they used to put on the December ban as it was the busy period, never understood it myself as we were usually delivering Easter eggs by then. They also took on a pile of agency drivers to cope and all that meant was we all spent most of the time sat in the canteen all night.