Co-op and holidays - notice period?

Can someone clarify to me, if you give an company notice of 1 month for a couple of days you want off when you are part time can they say you cannot have them off because someone else is having holiday then? (part time as two days per week, around 6 hours total)

If you have a holiday booked and you need the time off given notice are you allowed it? If they haven't got any staff should they not be able to draft any from other local stores.

By co-op I am defining the small supermarkets in local areas.

Reply 1

stosie

No they don't have to give you the holiday if there are too many other people off at that time as long as they give you sufficient notice. ie if you give them 4 weeks they should get back to you within the week. I used to work at co-op and we had to put in holiday for busy times months in advance. You should usually wait until the holiday is confirmed by work before booking flights etc to ensure that you can go.

That said if you have already booked the holiday especially if it is your parents who booked it for you just explain to the person who does the holiday in your store and make out that your parents only just told you and you have no choice as they wont leave you alone in the house. (This is what I did a few years ago and it worked)

Also if it is for exams they are supposed to do everything they can to get you the day off as they cant be seen to be getting in the way of your studies.

Reply 2

Joe Mc

Legally holiday is discretionary. They have to give you a certain amount but they can decide when you have it.

They should have some sort of policy or guidelines somewhere, but the short answer as Stosie says, is that they can refuse you holiday at whatever time.

Sorry

Reply 3

richard-

It is not for me, that is sheet tho. If you book in advance 6 weeks you cant have any time off at all in a whole month. What a load of rubbish

Reply 4

Joe Mc

They should have policy or guidelines, but most people work on a first come, first served basis, and the long term staff will always get priority as they will probably book their holiday even before the temporary staff have started. It is not great, but you'll find that in most companies, and that they use this great word "discretionary". Which means they can more or less do as they wish.

Reply 5

kizzers

Arnt you lucky that i nicked the co op employee handbook and its next to me!

It says here that:
"Holiday entitlement may be taken subject to approval of your line manager
The socitey's objective is to arrange holidays so as to ensure that adequate cover is available as all times to meet the business objectives, whilst at the same time also meeting your needs."

Take that as you will.

Reply 6

Joe Mc

Hmm

Well I am glad that they have cleared that one up, NOT!

It seems they have left it deliberately vague so that they can act as they wish. Not the greatest??

I do sympathise...

Reply 7

kizzers

Co op never was the greatest...