Annual Leave FAQ's

The subject of annual leave can be a minefield for employers, here we look at some of the most frequent questions we recieve into our Advice Line on the subject;

Q. How many days of annual leave do I have to give my employees?

A. The current entitlement is a minimum of 28 days of annual leave year for a full time employee. It is at the employer’s discretion if they wish to allow their employees more than their entitlement, although if they do allow this, the employer must be aware that this may then form a part of the employee’s contract.

Q. I include bank holidays in my holiday entitlement how does this effect how many holidays each employee is entitled to?

A. The total number of public holidays in the UK is 8. If it is your policy to allow employees days off on these days, this does count towards their total entitlement. Should you require an employee to work on a bank holiday, you must ensure that they still have 28 days of annual leave in total.

Q. What to do if my employee is off sick whilst on annual leave?

A. The ECJ has ruled that national laws and collective agreements must not prevent a worker who is on sick leave during a period of scheduled holiday from taking the holiday at a later time. The worker must be able to take the holiday at a later time even if this means taking it outside the leave year in which the leave was accrued.

So, although workers can take paid holiday during a period of sickness, if they prefer not to, they must be allowed to take the leave at a later date, even if this means carrying it over into another holiday year. Likewise, should an employee fall ill whilst on annual leave, should they request to take those holidays at a different time, the employer must allow them to.

Q. Can I prevent my employee taking his holiday entitlement in one go?

A. If this is not practical for your business, you are entitled to refuse such a request and ask that the employee takes their time off in more manageable chunks.

Q. What do I do if an employee doesn’t return from holiday?

A. If an employee has not returned from a period of annual leave at the agreed time; do not assume that they are not coming back, even if you feel this is probably the case. It is your responsibility as an employer to check where that person is. Commence AWOL proceedings to protect yourself against spurious claims for ‘unfair dismissal’.  Until you properly carry out AWOL proceedings, it is likely that they will be considered to be still your employee by the Employment Tribunal.

Q. My employee has taken more holidays than he accrued and he has now resigned. What can I do about it?

A. In order to lawfully deduct this from his final pay slip, you must have his agreement in writing. Such an agreement is usually produced and signed at the beginning of their employment.

Q. I have more people that want to be off in a particular week than I can accommodate without compromising operational efficiency. How do I decide?

A. Unless there are absolutely exceptional circumstances, it is not a good idea to differentiate on the basis of who you think has the best reason for requesting the time off. In order to avoid such situations, operate a strict first-come first-served basis.