HR FAQs - Holidays and Annual Leave

Q. Can my employees take holiday whenever they want?

A. No. You, the employer, can set expectations as to when employees can or cannot take annual leave.

Most companies will have contractual agreements or arrangements that govern holiday entitlement, often displayed in the company handbook. In the absence of a formal agreement, best practice suggests that your employee wishing to take leave must give you notice equal or greater than twice the length of the holiday requested. You, the employer can give notice that the holiday cannot be taken, as long as this notice is equal to or longer than the length of the holiday requested and that you specify which days may not be taken. You should also ensure that you are not preventing your employee from taking their statutory leave entitlement.

Q. What is the minimum amount of annual paid holiday that my workers are entitled to?

A. With effect from the 1st April 2009, workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks' paid annual holiday, which equates to 28 days per year.

Q. Can I include bank holidays in my employees' statutory leave entitlement?

A. The Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007 inserted a new regulation (13A) into the Working Time Regulations 1998 which means that workers are now entitled to 5.6 weeks paid annual leave. This can include bank and public holidays.

Q. Do my part time workers have the same rights to annual paid leave?

A. Yes, under the Working Time Regulations 1998, all workers have the legal right to 5.6 weeks' paid annual holiday on a pro rata basis. But, the number of days or hours that this statutory holiday entitlement equates to in monetary terms varies in correlation to the number of days or hours that the part time employee works.

For example:

Your employee works two days a week for eight hours each day, and your company allows 20 days annual leave each year, assuming one hour's unpaid lunch break:

Net full time hours for the year 35 hours x 52 weeks = 1820 hours

Part time hours for the year 16 hours x 52 weeks = 832 hours

Total part time hours 832 ÷ Total full time hours 1820 = 0.45 of full time hours, which is also 0.45 of full holiday entitlement.

Total full time annual leave entitlement = 20 days  

20 x 0.45 = Nine days

Part time holiday entitlement converted into hours 9 x 7 = 63 hours

Q. Should my company have a handbook policy on holiday procedures?

A. All companies should have an agreement between their employees and their workers with regards to the timing of annual holiday, the notice periods that should be given by employees and the employer and the method for calculating accrued holiday pay. Park City can create this document for you if required.

Q. Do I, the employer, have to give a reason for refusing holiday requests?

A. You do not have to give a reason for refusing a worker's holiday request but best practice would dictate that you should endeavour to do this.

The most common reasons for refusing holidays are when time off is requested during peak business times, when several workers want to have the same time off work or when the worker has a specific task that must be completed before leave can be taken.

You should remember, however, that refusing a holiday request can lead to a fall in trust and confidence by the employee. If you decide to refuse an employee's requested holiday, you should try and make sure that the employee understands the reasons for this, that these reasons are reasonable and that you are not simply refusing holiday arbitrarily. Also remember that, if a worker is refused leave, they must be allowed to have a holiday later in the year in accordance with their statutory leave entitlement.

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