Holiday Problem

[tiger88]

I've been working at a central london company for just over a year. In that time I've earned roughly 35 days holiday(paid obviously).
This may sound stupid, but I have no intrest in going on holiday or taking any time off, I prefer working.
However my manager is insisting that I have to start taking time off (he suggests a week minimum).
Obviously legally I need to be given holiday, but I just need help in finding out whether or not I am required by law to take it.

[Richard1966]

Whist you have the legal right to take paid holiday (23 days statutory leave + anything else your employer allows you), their is nothing in legislation forcing you to take leave you dont want.

However as an employer myself i would be concerned over a staff member working too much. We all need a break now and again, even if you don't go anywhere, time away from the workplace is important

[Eve]

Could they be worried about you storing up holiday in case you want to leave and claim it back?

[buildersmate]

Workaholics are likely to be just as much a problem for an employer as work-shysters. Think about it - in the longer term it is likely to create the impression that 'he has no other interests than just working'.
I do urge you to take a break from it.

[Richard1966]

The working time regulations which cover paid holiday do not allow holiday to to carried over from one year to the next. This comes down to the individual contract with the employer and is usually time limited. Again the contract we have allows staff who have not been able to take all their leave to carry a maximum of one weeks leave into the next leave year.

[flip_flop]

It is a contractual condition in my firm that all employees must have a least one holiday of two weeks duration every year.

The reason being that in that two weeks a problem might arise that the employee has been hiding (we had a situation a couple of years ago where an employee who hadn't taken a significant holiday for two or three years became ill and had a month off - we covered her work but it like opening a Pandoras box, she was a hider - she'd hide things that were difficult, she'd fabricate, cheat and lie, it was a bloody nightmare).

[CheekyChops]

Crikey are you nuts - at the end of the day you are being paid to do whatever you like for 35 days per year - why on earth would you want to go to work???

[Lucy Thomas]

This has got to be a wind up.

Who in their right mind wants to work instead of being paid to do as they like for five weeks. I think Victor Meldrew had a phrase for it.

[squarebear]

I once knew a company where one guy never took any time off apart from the odd half day here and there. His colleagues thought this was strange but said nothing.

Anyway, one day he was taken ill and was off work for about 3 weeks. During this time, his colleague who was covering his work discovered he was on the fiddle and was fleecing the company. He hadn't taken any time off so he wouldn't get caught.

Just be careful if you insist on not taking any holidays that your employer may think you are up to something.