Holidays can be a bit of a nightmare for employers to navigate. Here are some things to remember to avoid you getting into trouble:
1. Whilst holidays are an entitlement, a holiday request is just that a request and you can say no if the timing is not convenient, but you cannot stop an employee from taking their statutory holiday entitlement during the holiday year so you cannot keep saying no
2. Certain times of the year are more popular than others so having a written holiday policy can be helpful in avoiding staff fallouts. A first come first served policy is much less likely to get you into difficulty than having a policy that only allows employees with children to take holidays not during term time.
3. Make sure you are paying correctly. Holiday pay is not necessarily just basic pay but should include bonuses, commission and overtime. You have to take the average pay over the 52 week period prior to the holiday week.
4. You can dictate when employees take holiday – you have to give double the notice of the time you want them to take so for example if you want them to take a weeks’ holiday you have to give them two weeks’ notice.
5. You cannot make an employee take holiday during sickness absence and if an employee is sick during their holiday then they can choose to treat it as sickness absence and postpone their holiday leave to another time.
