Boss slammed over outrageous text to worker on leave: 'I am not asking'
A boss has been slammed for trying to cancel a staff member's holiday even though they were already away. The unnamed manager reached out to a worker, who was in Mexico at the time, and explained that too many people were off at once and they needed to cut their leave short.
Entrepreneur Ben Askins revealed the text message exchange between the two as the situation unfolded, with the worker asking whether this was all a "joke". The manager revealed it wasn't and pushed fairly hard to get the employee back into the office.
"Sorry to do this so late, but there has been a mistake with the annual leave," the boss started.
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"I'm going to have to cancel the second half of your annual leave this week. You will need to be in the office Thursday and Friday."
Even though the worker said getting to the office from Mexico was next to impossible, the manager claimed their hands were tied.
"Sorry. Like I said, there's nothing I can do. I'm going to update the system now saying you'll be in," they said in a text message.
Despite the staffer digging in their heels, the manager even found a flight on Wednesday that would have brought them back in time."I am not asking I am telling you the situation. I appreciate it is not ideal," they said.
However, the worker wouldn't budge and threatened to escalate it if the boss didn't back down.
"Even if I wanted to come back in time, which I can't, I wouldn't," they said.
"And if you push this, I will be reporting it."
Askins said this was a monumental stuff up on the manager's behalf and they had no right in taking away peoples' annual leave, especially if they were already off.
He said if bosses found themselves in this situation, it's up to them to find someone else to get the work done and respect workers' time off.
"Get a contractor in, get a freelancer... move things around," he said.
"That's your problem to deal with. What's not okay is you meshing your employees on his annual leave in Mexico being like, 'You've got to be in on Thursday'. What do you think he's going to come back with?
"Like, of course, he's not canceling his holiday... it's so dumb."
But people have revealed this isn't an isolated incident and they've been hit with similar requests during their time off work.
"Second company I worked for tried this, I was in Sweden, far north, so no trains and few planes in winter, and they said I needed to be in for my second week of holidays. Told them I'd be there in spirit," said one worker.
"I was away for my brother's wedding in Dubai, the assistant manager of the supermarket texted me expecting me to come in the day before the wedding for a four-hour shift, as in fly home to the UK and fly back on my own expense, if I didn't I'd be disciplined. There was a disciplinary but it wasn't mine," added another.
But many people had the same advice to avoid ending up in this situation.
"I'm sorry but I never ever answer my phone on off hours. Leave a message and I'll get to it at my convenience. People need to start normalising boundaries," wrote a person.
"This is why I don't reply on vacation," added another.
In Australia, a boss can only cancel your annual leave under certain circumstances, but that's before you go on holiday.
According to employment lawyers Jewel Hancock, employers must have "reasonable and genuine business reasons" to knock back an annual leave request.
This can be if there is a particularly busy period during that time off or if other employees have already requested leave.
"The Fair Work Act does not give employers a direct right to cancel an employee's approved annual leave, even if the business has reasonable grounds to want to cancel," Jewel Hancock said.
"While your employer can request you to cancel planned leave, they cannot pressure you to do so.
"Changes should be made with your consent, consideration of your financial loss and after exploring alternative options."
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