Employer deducting holiday leave due to snow?

Cari

I agree this is completely unfair, but it is perfectly legal.

My employer is doing the same thing, despite the fact that I work in central London and therefore there was no public transport running yesterday, and I had no choice but to stay home. I am not sure what the other Answerers are on about who have said that it was a choice not to go to work - perhaps they live in areas where people own cars and that kind of thing, but in central London, if there is no public transport, then you are not going any further than you can walk. I don't even know anyone who owns a car.

With regard to parental leave, the law is that you are permitted to take as much time off as required to find alternative arrangements for your child. So, this doesn't mean that you can take the day off yourself - it means that you can take, say, an hour off or however long it takes to take the child to a relative or someone who can watch him/her. And even this time can be unpaid.

FYI, in the UK an employer does not have to provide you with written terms and conditions until you have been there eight weeks. So legally, they're correct in that they didn't need to give you a contract yet.

I am not sure about the nursery but I would assume that they have no right to charge you if they were closed.

tah_london

You decided not to work yesterday, and therefore you can be deducted for holiday. It's wasn't the work that rang you. Employment contracts can take upto 13 weeks to arrive after starting work.

douglas m

It depends on what you told your work if you said it was due to the snow then yes they could, but if you said it was due to the nursery being closed and you had no one to look after your child you could ask for carers leave, which you can take 5 days in a year (the year runs from the date you take your first the leave on).
I don't think the nursery will charge you as they are not open and there for not able to provide a service

Lily B Talus

yes your employer can deduct from your holidays as it is your job to make sure that you live near enough to reach your workplace...if the nursery decided to close you wont have to pay, but if you didn't make it there ...you've still got to pay because they have staff wages etc.

Ash

I work at a University so it is pretty cut and dry for us. If the school closes we are not expected to come in and we will still get paid for the day. If the school stays open but we feel that it is unsafe to come in we may stay home, but it costs us a vacation day. There have been many times this year that I have gone out in dangerous weather to ensure that I get paid. Unless your work tells you not to come in they do not have to pay you.

If the day care was closed you should not expect to pay for it, but if it was open you will likely have to foot that bill also.

Empress

Who decided that you couldn't go into work yesterday? If you rang them and said you couldn't come in then yes they can deduct it from your holiday. If they rang you and said work was closed then no they can't. I would also advice you to check your contract but it sounds like you might not have received that yet?! That is illegal you should haves signed a contract before you started work.
The nursery I don't know because they operate on different basis so you need to check what your agreement is with them.

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