Ask us: Christmas closedown and holidays
Business was so quiet over Christmas last year that I have decided to close between Christmas and New Year this year.
Can I force employees to take these closure days as holiday?
The Working Time Regulations give you the entitlement to require your employees to take annual leave at a time specified by you.
You may set out the dates in a ‘relevant agreement’ which may be a collective agreement (typically with Trade Union involvement) or most commonly in a contract of employment. But if your contract does not include such a clause and there is no other formal legal agreement, the regulations state you may tell employees to take annual leave on particular days by giving the appropriate notice.
This should be done in writing, specifying the day or days on which leave is required to be taken and the notice period must be at least twice as long as the holiday to be taken.
In other words, if you are closing for 3 days, you must provide at least 6 days notice in advance of the first day of leave required.
