cancellation of leave

[simon_green2]

How much notice does your employer have to give you if they wish to cancel you leave?

[acw]

10:45am (started!)

Hello there,

Welcome to AB! :-)  I'm afraid this almost certainly depends on your contract.  There may be a specific clause in their about holiday leave and holiday leave cancellation.  If not, there should be a policy in your workplace to which your attention should have been drawn. 

If you have booked a holiday, and being forced to work would cause you to have to cancel that holiday, then make this clear to your employer. 

There is a legal remedy available if the case calls for it, but it's pretty extreme.  If you feel that in forcing you to cancel leave that your employer has broken the implied term of "mutual trust and confidence", then I would advise consulting a solicitor to see how strong your case is.  On his/her advice you may then have to resign, and essentially sue them for 'constructive dismissal'.  To do this, I think you'd have to do as they say up to the point of resignation, and resign AFTER you'd worked through the time you'd booked as leave. 

This is obviously pretty extreme and the fees for a barrister to the Employment Tribunal aren't cheap and you need to be pretty sure of your case.  Obviously I'd advocate trying to avoid this situation and trying to negotiate with your boss.  Of course MENTION words like mutual trust and confidence - it might help!!! :-D

Please let me know how it goes! :-) 

[hinge1967]

If it gets nasty then seek the support of your Trade Union. You are in a Union I hope..........they exist to protect workers rights.

[acw]

That's a good point hinge1967, but remember that not everyone has a union they can join- I certainly don't. 

[hinge1967]

ACW - assume you are a in the services or police officer and that there are restrictions on your ability to belong to a Political body.

SIMON - if you are not restricted due to a special occupation you are free to join any union, they tend to organise themselves around occupations but there are no limitations. Many Unions will also provide help subject to you joining and do not require a qualifying period to be eligible for services.

[acw]

Agency worker actually - many of the workers with the least rights by law, also suffer from not having a union.  I wasn't meaning to argue at all, I'm just pointing out that not everyone has access to a union.  However, I do agree that unions can offer very good protection for those willing and able to join. 

If for some reason (perhaps personal political belief, or the fees are too high) simon_green, you are unable to join a union, you can get free legal advice from any CAB or one of the many walk-in/phone in Legal Advice Centres around the country.  If you have a look at your contract, then give me some more details, I can offer you legal advice here.  However, I'm not qualified so my advice is not guaranteed/insured.  But I am studying for my LLM having got my LLB (hons) and I would be researching the answer from reliable sources. 

I hope to be able to help! :-)

[acw]

P.S., Just to clarify my point about me not joining a union.  It is very difficult for agency workers to join unions as often a condition for joining is that you have an employer.  Very few agency workers have "contracts of employment" - it's a legal loophole that has worked for years, despite a few attempts by the courts to close it.