Long weekends & Saturday's in Annual Leave

[kinggch]

As far as I understand it - with the rotation system that Royal Mail employs - I should be entitled to a long weekend every 6 weeks or so?(On a p/t 25hr contract) Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I've been working for RM for 6 months now and I've never had a long weekend off. Come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time I had a Saturday off. Which brings me to my holiday entitlement, as I was late in booking it I've been given my 'weeks' off for the year. Fair enough, that's their legislative right - but having had a closer look, I notice that I don't have one Saturday, right up until March 2010. Is this common practice and something I should just get used to or can I challenge the DOM about it?

[smokerjim]

First thing you want to do is speak to the manager that does the rota, and ask him to give you your fair share of Saturdays off & suggest that you have not had one off since you started, it might be reasonable of him to start by giving you qa few Saturdays off on the spin. Also speak to your rep, and get his views on it....and if you don't get a Saturday off sharpish, I would consider asking the rep to put in a grievence against the manager. Are you on a fixed duty? Or do they keep moving you around? It's not important, but it might explain why you haven't had a Saturday off, if you are not on one duty.

[BELIAL]

In other words ,you've been shafted Get up stand up ,stand up for your rights

[uprising95]

depends what round your on
i guess your the same as me 25 hour not on a walk just were ever lol
my day off is what ever the persons round im on that week
or a monday or tuesday the light days

all though last week they gave me Saturday off and the round i was on the week after - monday was the blokes day off

[johnnyp]

As far as I understand it - with the rotation system that Royal Mail employs - I should be entitled to a long weekend every 6 weeks or so?(On a p/t 25hr contract) Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I've been working for RM for 6 months now and I've never had a long weekend off. Come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time I had a Saturday off. Which brings me to my holiday entitlement, as I was late in booking it I've been given my 'weeks' off for the year. Fair enough, that's their legislative right - but having had a closer look, I notice that I don't have one Saturday, right up until March 2010. Is this common practice and something I should just get used to or can I challenge the DOM about it?

You would get a long weekend if you were a duty holder or rest day cover on a walk,but if you are a reserve then its a different story.Reserves sign for dutys in seniorty (on a weekley basis covering A/L or S/L) so its the luck of the draw im afraid.If the guys senior to you sign for the walks with Saturdays off then thats how the cookie crumbles.If your office has decided that you dont wish to use seniorty for reserves then yes the manager should make sure that saturdays off rotate amongst the guys and girls.Speak to your rep and manager and see what the local agreement is on this.

[heapsy]

As far as I understand it - with the rotation system that Royal Mail employs - I should be entitled to a long weekend every 6 weeks or so?(On a p/t 25hr contract) Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I've been working for RM for 6 months now and I've never had a long weekend off. Come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time I had a Saturday off. Which brings me to my holiday entitlement, as I was late in booking it I've been given my 'weeks' off for the year. Fair enough, that's their legislative right - but having had a closer look, I notice that I don't have one Saturday, right up until March 2010. Is this common practice and something I should just get used to or can I challenge the DOM about it?

This also happened to me when 5 day duties were introduced in our office. At the time I was a leave reserve, and I suspect from what you are saying, you are too. If that is the case then you don't really have an arguement. It is annoying however, as due to the longs/ shorts of the days, you may end up working more hours than you are paid for soe weeks. This used to happen to me many times. I can remember one year, I got 4 days extra leave in lieu because my day off for that week fell on a Monday, when it was a bank holiday week.
Try to get in to the habit of booking your holidays yourself, rather than leave it too late, cos the l/m will have to allocate them othewise, and that can really mess it up for you.

[Spedley]

Out of interest, what are the guidelines for booking holidays. Most of my annual leave has been 'allocated' and I have 3 weeks off and 11 odd days, often two of these days are in the same week but not together which seems a little rediculous.

I can understand their allocating the holidays - I would have booked them if I knew which week in February 2010 I wanted - but some people want specific holidays that they can't have because other people have had that weeh allocated. The whole holiday booking is a shambles in our office and I would like to know what the agreement is.

[silverback]

LEAVE RESERVES. You are entitled to be treated same as duty holders. Just because you are a reserve does not entitle RM to treat you dissadvantagously. You are entitled to 1 weekend off in 6 just like the regular duty holders. Operational needs may mean that they cannot be literally 1 every 6 BUT over a longer period (i.e a year) you are entitled to the same amount of weekends off. If these weekends are not forthcoming after you have highlighted the problem then you have grounds for putting in a HR1 form, harrassment and bullying. On the grounds of descrimination. (leave reserves should not be treated differently to regular duty holders).
DEFINITION OF PREJUDICE - An attitude that predisposes a person to think about, feel or percieve and act in a favourable or unfavourable way towards an individual or group.
I would claim that RM are treating reserves, as a group, or as individuals, in an unfavourable way.

You have to be strong and show them you will stand up for yourselves, otherwise you will just have to accept what they do.

[savo]

In our office all the duties have FIXED days off, so apart from the lucky few who have a fixed Saturday off on their duties, the rest of us are lucky to ever get a Sat off, apart from annual leave.

[heapsy]

It's on afirst come first served basis in our office. There are 6 part and 6 full time slots allowed in any 1 week. Once they are full, that's it. Booking nearly a year in advance can be tricky, but generally speaking, the inportant ones are when you want to go away. In my case, no kids, so I don't book a holiday to go away, later than June. I take 2 weeks for that break, even if I only go for a week. The rest are 1 week breaks spread throughout the year.