Employee Time Off Requests

[zachh1020]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

I'm not sure if this is a legal question or just a courtesy thing.

I'm an employer in Indiana. I'm VERY accommodating to my employee's schedules and time off requests. Probably more than I should be.

I had an employee turn in a time off request for various days for the entire year of 2012. Some of the dates people have already requested off and on those days, I will not have enough staff to cover shifts.

My question is, am I required as an employer to give them those days off or can I deny certain days? Not just because, just on days we won't have enough staff.

Any help or insight is appreciated.
Thank You,
ZH

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Indiana

I'm not sure if this is a legal question or just a courtesy thing.

I'm an employer in Indiana. I'm VERY accommodating to my employee's schedules and time off requests. Probably more than I should be.

I had an employee turn in a time off request for various days for the entire year of 2012. Some of the dates people have already requested off and on those days, I will not have enough staff to cover shifts.

My question is, am I required as an employer to give them those days off or can I deny certain days? Not just because, just on days we won't have enough staff.

Any help or insight is appreciated.
Thank You,
ZH

You are free to deny any days you please. If you schedule an employee and they do not show up as scheduled, it is up to you how you handle that situation. My only suggestion is that you be as consistent as possible. Having said that, you should also know that you don't have to provide any justifications to your employees for any of your decisions.

 

[zachh1020]

Wow. Thanks again for the very quick reply. This is an awesome site and I see myself using it often. I wish I would have known about it when I had a Worker's Comp claim against me.

 

[Beth3]

My question is, am I required as an employer to give them those days off or can I deny certain days?

Approval of vacation is based on the convenience of the employer. Of course you can deny vacation requests. Everywhere I've ever worked there was a limit by department/shift/job/whatever as to how many employees could take vacation or other time off (excluding FMLA) concurrently.

You might want to implement a policy on how vacation time will be approved. For example, all vacation requests submitted for the coming year by the 15th of February will be approved based on seniority. The most senior employee gets their preferred dates, then the second most senior and so on. After Feb 15th, vacation requests will be approved on a "first come, first served" basis but still with the restriction that only "X" number of employees could be gone on vacation at the same time.