Advice on rights needed

obnicc

Hi, hoping somebody has some advice for me, I have searched citizens information but I can't find an answer.

My partner is full time permanently employed and his boss just told everyone that next Tuesday the esb are carrying out maintenance in the town and they will have no electricity to work, so all the staff have to take a days holiday from their holiday entitlements.

Is it right that my partner will have to use his holidays?

Mrs OBumble

Ideally, he would get a longer amount of notice about when the employer has decided he may use his holidays. I don't know if there's a legal amount of time for this though.

I've seen legal opinions saying that an employer is under no obligation to pay staff or to allow annual leave when the employee cannot work for reasons outside the employer's control (eg flooding, snow - I'd say that ESB work is in the same league). Would he be happier if he could take the day unpaid instead?

stimpson

They must give a months notice if it's to be taken from annual leave:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/20/section/20/enacted/en/html#sec20

wokingvoter

He can go into the office and say he doesn't want to take a days holidays and the boss will say that theres nothing he can do about it (there is nothing he can do about it )
Then if the boss goes ahead and deducts a days holidays, he can go ahead and make a complaint to WR under maybe the Terms and Conditions of Employment Act, (ring 189080890 just to check which section he is complaining under, it could be Payment of Wages either), but whats that all going to do to his relationship with his employer? over 1 days A\L!!!

davo10

The employer is required to give one months notice but in circumstances like this where your partner cannot work due to circumstances beyond the employers control, your partner should consider taking the leave as requested. It would be strong goodwill.

Remember, leave time is at the discretion of the employer, if the other employees take the leave and your partner refuses, his employer can then decide when (or not) his future leave can be taken.

obnicc

Thanks for the advice, he is trying to save his holidays as next month his parents are coming to visit from Australia so he was hoping to not have to use his paid holidays until then.

I think for the sake of one day it's not worth making formal complaints over. However my partner is very headstrong and rang citizens information and they told him he has to take a days holiday or an unpaid day because it's outside of his employers control.

So he is taking a paid day off, after my nagging, so he doesn't make hassle for himself at work. The reason he had an issue is he works a lot of overtime and if there's a day that's a paid holiday it isn't counted as working hours, so for that week the first 8 hours of overtime he works won't be counted as overtime, after those 8 hours his overtime pay would kick in. So we will be down money either way.

Thank you all for the advice.

1hnr79jr65

obnicc wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, he is trying to save his holidays as next month his parents are coming to visit from Australia so he was hoping to not have to use his paid holidays until then.

I think for the sake of one day it's not worth making formal complaints over. However my partner is very headstrong and rang citizens information and they told him he has to take a days holiday or an unpaid day because it's outside of his employers control.

So he is taking a paid day off, after my nagging, so he doesn't make hassle for himself at work. The reason he had an issue is he works a lot of overtime and if there's a day that's a paid holiday it isn't counted as working hours, so for that week the first 8 hours of overtime he works won't be counted as overtime, after those 8 hours his overtime pay would kick in. So we will be down money either way.

Thank you all for the advice.

If your husband wont get overtime rate anyways then, why not take the leave unpaid and can retain days leave.

The overtime will just count as normal hours.