Can an employer cancel someone's holiday because they haven't made enough sales?

murdoch48 · 12th March 2008, 16:35

Hi,

I have a friend who works for the Flamingo Club in Telemarketing, and she has been told that the holidays she had booked for Easter will be cancelled because she has not generated enough sales this month.

She is on contract and still has more than 20 days leave due.

This sounds like it´s illegal, but she is concerned that if she takes the holiday she will be fired. If she does not take the holiday she will loose the deposit she has paid and the cost of flights which have been paid for.

I´ve told here to get legal advice, but meantime can anyone offer any guidence please?

CornflakeGirl · 12th March 2008, 16:47

it sounds illegal to me as well but i guess it depends on what it says in her contract. does it say there the employer is allowed to cancel her holidays if she has not had enough sales??

murdoch48 · 12th March 2008, 17:04

There is no corelatation between sales and holiday entitlement, it appears to be a new manager trying to do some foot stamping

Mike in Chayofa · 13th March 2008, 12:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by murdoch48

There is no corelatation between sales and holiday entitlement,

This is true ... but ... care needs to be taken here.

If you have a job that involves 'sales' most contracts have a clause in them along the lines of ... 'you will increase sales and meet sales targets'

If you aren't careful ,it could be a case of - a verbal, 2 writtens and the loss of the job.

maddogmolly · 13th March 2008, 17:44

she should have asked and gotten her holidays in writing when submitting them.

if she had the new company would have been obliged to comply.

if her contract states the date of holidays then the company cannot do anything but most contracts only state how many days entitlement.

when doing anything concerning contracts GET IT IN WRITING.

lynda · 13th March 2008, 17:56

It is always nice to have everything in writing or have a common understanding. More often than not there can also be a subtext story such as the employee is not working out. I am not making any assumptions about your friend. I feel that it is difficult for alot of managers and such to deal with issues directly, and then use convenient circumstances rather than be up front and honest with the person.

L

hopper · 13th March 2008, 18:27

I remember years ago when I worked for a national office equipment company they got a new sales director who went through the company like a new broom.

He came to see me one day and explained that I was £xxx short of my monthly target and if I didn't meet that target I would face disciplinary action, when I explained that on Monday I was going off on holiday for 2 weeks and I couldn't possibly meet the target he said I had a difficult decision to make.

It wasn't difficult, it was one of the best holidays I have ever had and when I got back I put the feelers out and got a new job but only after the written warning.

I later found out he did this to 5 other employees when their holidays were due, it was his favorite trick to reduce staffing levels without having to pay redundancy because people tended to move on after such a nasty trick.