Fairness.....holidays

O

onekeano

Guest
A friend of mine works in a job with 2 others - same grade for several years now. He's has been advised that he has to cover holidays for the others BEFORE he can have his holidays.

Any job I have worked in has had holidays on a 1st come 1st served basis - excluding where the business specifically could not allow holidays to be taken at that time ie. in a multinational manufacturing org. at the end of the quarter.

It seems incredible to me that anyone can decide (and this is a public service type job) that one out of 3 people has to put their holidays (and that of their family!) on hold until other people of teh same grade make up their mind when they want their holidays.

If anyone can advise if there are any similar situations out there or is this totally unfair?

Roy

Titled corrected
 
Re: Fariness.....holidays

What do you mean by 'public service type' organisation? It sounds like this is a problem with the individual manager playing favourites. If this is a large organisation, what do the HR guys have to say on the topic? Has he got this ruling/policy in writing?
 
Re: Fariness.....holidays

By 'public service type' I mean large charitable (pardon the pun) organisation funded by the Eastern Health Board.

If this is a large organisation, what do the HR guys have to say on the topic? Hasn't gone there yet..... this person is non-confrontational at the best of times.

Has he got this ruling/policy in writing? Just received a mail from his manager to this effect last week and when I saw it I advised them to a) challenge it but because of the non-confrontational nature of the person in question I advised them to join a union who could take the matter up on their behalf.

Roy
 
Re: Fariness.....holidays

With the introduction of the [broken link removed] also it could mean that the whole family could be regularly affected by the unfairness. Sounds like one for either HR Dept. (as rainyday says above) or union matter.
 
Re: Fariness.....holidays

Exactly Sue, as I have mentioned to my friend if this is allowed to happen in 2005 then this would be a dangerous precedent for him.

I have only worked in multinationals as there it's always been 1st come 1st served basis for holidays - does anyone know of any work environment where last in has to wait until eveyone else chooses their holidays periods before THEY can book?

One last question, if he joins a union would they have a problem taking this up on his behalf given that he was not a member when there was no problem?

Roy
 
"One last question, if he joins a union would they have a problem taking this up on his behalf given that he was not a member when there was no problem?"

I asked this same question some years ago when I was on a union committee and it would appear that the union don't normally have a problem (probably because more income generated!). Members would probably be the stumbling block if support was requested i.e. a strike situation came about.
 
Thanks Sue,

I can't imagine any action would be required apart from perhaps getting this referred to a Rights Commission who would provide (I believe) a reasonable judgement.

I have a lot of experience on this end of things myself but from the other side and I have never seen a situation where a manager would in effect try to make a second class citizen out of one person.

Thanks again
Roy
 
The whole thing doesn't make any sense.

I'm pretty sure this is out of line - what happens if one of the others keeps hmming and hawing until November or December and then decides to carry over their holidays ?

I doubt very much that annual leave can be made conditional like this.

Contact DETE would be my advice.

z
 
It sounds like your friend has an incompetent manager who is making one of his/her team unhappy for no good reason. This sort of behavior can have a very divisive effect on a company or organization. Is the managers manager aware of the situation?
Is the organization that your friend works for unionised at the moment? If it is not unionised at the moment and your friend has low self confidence then he or she may not be big on the idea of getting one involved (though it does sound like a good solution).
 
Thanks lads,

He's raised it officially and is awaiting clarification. There is a union but he never joined it.... basically just likes to get on with his job and not cause hassle. Worm might be turning depending on response.

Will keep you posted.

Roy
 
This was standard practice in Banks in branches and I believe in The civil service too. The last in has to wait for those in before them to pick their holidays and then they can choose theirs
Considering there are only 2 people whose holidays they have to suit they should probably just consider themselves lucky ,some people are at the end of a very long list .
 
This was standard practice in Banks in branches and I believe in The civil service too
Click to expand...
Are management practices really that bad in banks and the civic service? If so then why do unions let it happen? Surly that's what unions are there to prevent...
 
Well in return for a structured hierarchy you also have almost complete job security guaranteed pay rises every year and full employer Pension contributions -
Getting 1st choice at holidays is old fashioned but is seen as a perk by long term employees and they would not be happy to lose it.
Saying that i worked in a dept in a bank and it was a 1st come 1st served instead.
In the branches -I suppose they are a bit more status quo orientated and in a pretty flat structure enviroment this differentiates between the long term employee and the fresh faced newbie.
 
The position in place that I worked in a couple of years ago was that a list was passed around by the supervisor at the start of the leave year. The list was divided into weeks across the at the top of the page and peoples name down the side. It was given to the most senior person first and so on and they filled in which weeks they wished to take leave and passed it on to the next person on the list. The supervisor had to keep an eye on it to make sure that it kept moving.

If the person was not in a position to say when they planned to take their holidays they either left the list blank or filled in a week or two weeks that they thought they would take.

If someone more junior in the grade applied for a particular period and a more senior person in the grade after this applied for the same period, the junior person, having booked the leave first, was granted the leave. In most cases there was an amount of give and take and the system worked well enough.

As for using seniority as a means of deciding who should get leave when it removes the possibility of charges of favoritism or picking on someone. It is also fair in that everyone starts off as being the most junior in the grade and gradually rise up the list.


Murt
 
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