Warning to bosses over staff holidays

Employers may be skating on thin ice by asking workers stranded by the Icelandic volcanic-ash cloud to treat the enforced time off as holiday leave.

An Oldham employment-law specialist warns bosses in the borough that, under the Working Time Regulations 1988, employers requiring employees to take holiday must give them at least twice as much notice as the length of holiday.

Mike Pitt, a partner at Pearson Hinchliffe Commercial Law, Hollinwood, said that employers must give at least a fortnight’s notice if they require an employee to take a week’s leave.

He explained: “The only exceptions are for employers who have opted out of this obligation. In that case, they can treat days stranded abroad as holiday without the need to give notice.”

Mr Pitt also said that employees generally have no legal right to be paid for the time they were away.

He continued: “Again, there are exceptions. People whose employment contract says they will be paid if they are unable to attend work because of matters beyond their control must be paid as normal.”

Mr Pitt advises employers against docking the pay of any employees who appeared to have made their best efforts to get back to work.

“Withholding pay can seriously harm employee morale,” he said, adding: “Many employees do unpaid extra work by arriving early and finishing late. They would be much less inclined to do so in future if their pay was withheld for failing to attend work while stranded abroad.”

Employers should similarly be sympathetic to employees who were unable to get away on holiday because of the ash cloud. “They should be allowed to reschedule their leave unless this would pose major problems,” he advised.