Q: I want to limit the number of Saturdays and Sundays my employees can take off as holiday each year (five of each). I didn’t include anything about this in their contracts of employment though. Can I still do this?
Mar 30 2009
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
Yes, you can limit the number of Saturdays and Sundays your employees take off as holiday. In fact, you can exercise control over an employee’s holiday leave no matter what day they choose to ask for. Many employers do not realise that they can dictate exactly when their employees can, and also cannot, take their holiday. This right can be exercised as and when holiday requests are made.
This means that, in your case, if an employee requests a day off on a Saturday when they have already exceeded your imposed limit, you simply refuse it. As long as you give the employee the amount of notice equal to the amount of time they want to take off, then you have acted within your rights. So if the request was for a day’s holiday, you will have to give the employee a day’s notice prior to the intended day off that you are refusing that request.
To give your employees prior warning you may wish to let them know at the start of the leave year, e.g. by sending a memo to all staff or pinning a notice on the notice board, that you are limiting the amount of certain days on which holiday can be taken, or the amount of time to be taken during a particular period.
Employers can also make employees take holiday on a particular day/during a particular period by giving notice that is twice as long as the period you wish them to take, e.g. an enforced holiday of one week would require two weeks’ notice.
Requests from all staff should be treated in the same way. However, discretion should be used when dealing with a request that you would, under normal circumstances, refuse if the request is made by an employee wanting to observe a religious occasion or other similar situation which could attract a potential discrimination claim.
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