LET THE GAMES BEGIN
16 JUNE 14
HOW CAN EMPLOYERS BEST MANAGE ABSENCE – THROUGH LEAVE OR OTHERWISE – DURING
MAJOR SPORTING EVENTS, IN PARTICULAR THE GLASGOW 2014 COMMONWEALTH GAMES?
by Gillian Cumming
Major sporting events such as the World Cup always pose issues for employers, as
employees seek to follow the best of the action, but when they are held in this
country the complexities are multiplied.
With 6,500 athletes from 71 countries competing in 17 sports over 11 days, the
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is the biggest sporting event ever to take
place in Scotland.
Despite the false start from the ticketing website and phone line, over 1,000,000
tickets have been sold, and with 15,000 volunteers assisting at the Games, there will
be a surge in people from within Glasgow and beyond, looking for time off their work.
The Games will begin with an opening ceremony at Celtic Park on 23 July and end
with a closing ceremony at Hampden Park on 3 August, and are therefore taking
place during the school summer holiday period, already one of the most popular
times for employees to make annual leave requests. As a result of the Games,
annual leave requests during this busy time look set to be higher than ever.
How then can employers best manage employee absence during the Games?
THE RIGHT TO TAKE ANNUAL LEAVE
Those lucky enough to have obtained tickets for the Games or to have been
accepted as volunteers, will have received notification of that fact well in advance,
and accordingly should have submitted their annual leave requests in good time.
The information provided in this document is intended as general guidance only. The information is not intended
to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific
advice relevant to particular circumstances. Just Employment Law Ltd shall accept no responsibility for any loss
which may arise from reliance on the information in this document.
Just Employment Law Ltd retains copyright in this document and permission must be sought from Just Employment
Law Ltd before this material may be used for any other purpose.
For those employees who have failed to give their employer sufficient notice, or
those who manage to get last minute tickets, it is useful for employers to bear in
mind that they are not necessarily compelled to grant an annual leave request at
very short notice, and that there are options available to them.
It is common practice for employers to provide that employees have to give a certain
amount of notice of their intention to take annual leave within their contracts of
employment. If no such provision is made, the Working Time Regulations 1998 will
apply. These provide that an employee must give their employer at least twice as
many days’ notice as the period of annual leave that they wish to take. Therefore if
an employee wants to take one day’s leave they need only give two days’ notice.
This may be insufficient for many employers, particularly at a time when others are
also requesting leave. Employers can serve a counter notice to decline an
employee’s holiday request in certain circumstances.
It is also good practice to make enquiries up front to determine whether employees
have secured tickets or are intending to volunteer. That way, if employees have not
already submitted their time off requests, they can be encouraged to do so in good
time, so that it is known who will be looking for time off, and when, up front.
ANNUAL LEAVE OR UNPAID LEAVE?
The criteria for volunteers provide that they must be available for eight days during
the games, and that they must attend training in advance of the Games as well.
Volunteers may ask their employers if they can take time off during the Games as
unpaid leave, rather than using up their annual leave entitlement, highlighting the
fact that they are performing public services on a voluntary basis.
Before employers agree to such a request, they should bear in mind that employees
will still be entitled to take their full annual leave entitlement for their current annual
leave year, on top of any unpaid leave. Accordingly, employers should carefully
consider business needs when determining such requests, particularly when
considering a volume of similar applications.
The information provided in this document is intended as general guidance only. The information is not intended
to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific
advice relevant to particular circumstances. Just Employment Law Ltd shall accept no responsibility for any loss
which may arise from reliance on the information in this document.
Just Employment Law Ltd retains copyright in this document and permission must be sought from Just Employment
Law Ltd before this material may be used for any other purpose.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY POLICY
If an employer has a corporate social responsibility policy, they should consider its
terms prior to rejecting any request for annual leave or unpaid leave. If the policy
encourages employees to volunteer, but subsequent requests for time off are
declined, this may, depending on the circumstances, serve to undermine the policy.
HOLIDAY REQUEST PROCEDURE
Employers should have a clear holiday request policy, and make sure they apply this
fairly and consistently to all employees.
Employers could consider having a practice of granting requests on a first come first
served basis. This would help to minimise the likelihood of employees feeling that
they have been singled out, or treated differently from others, if their annual leave
request is refused. This only works, of course, if all employees know the policy in
advance, and if the employer applies the policy consistently.
MANAGING ABSENCES
Disgruntled employees who have holiday requests declined may decide to take the
time off anyway… perhaps under the guise of being struck down with “unexpected” ill
health.
If an employee is absent for less than eight consecutive days, they do not require to
submit a statement of fitness for work from their GP, and instead they can selfcertify. This is easily done, and unauthorised absences for a short period can
therefore be difficult for employers to deal with.
There are however steps that employers can take to address matters, via disciplinary
proceedings if necessary, where there is a basis to suggest that the reason for
absence may differ from the one claimed by the employee.
The information provided in this document is intended as general guidance only. The information is not intended
to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific
advice relevant to particular circumstances. Just Employment Law Ltd shall accept no responsibility for any loss
which may arise from reliance on the information in this document.
Just Employment Law Ltd retains copyright in this document and permission must be sought from Just Employment
Law Ltd before this material may be used for any other purpose.
It is of course good practice to keep a note of the dates for which employees have
requested annual leave, or even better, to require employees to submit annual leave
requests in writing. This would be useful evidence to have in the event an employee
takes time off sick after their annual leave request has been refused.
In addition, it is not unusual for employees in the modern climate to be caught out
when taking unauthorised leave by (ill-advisedly) posting their whereabouts on social
media sites, particularly during major sporting events. This may be a distinct
possibility, particularly where an employee has managed to secure Games tickets at
short notice, and/or wishes to share their experience on social media.
It is also useful to have a clear sickness reporting procedure. Employees should
ideally be required to call their manager personally to inform them of their absence
and the reasons for it. Texting, or allowing employees to have someone else call on
their behalf, sometimes makes it too easy for employees to call in “sick”. It is also
good practice for employees to be invited to a return to work meeting following any
period of sickness absence, so that the reason for their absence can be discussed in
more detail. If employees know that they are going to be questioned in relation to the
reason for their absence, this may help act as a deterrent to them calling in ”sick” in
the first place, particularly during major sporting events!
ENCOURAGING ATTENDANCE
To try to encourage attendance at work during the Games, and to deter employees
from taking unauthorised absences, employers could, for the most popular sporting
events, perhaps consider allowing employees to watch those events during working
hours, and make up the time taken to do so.
Employers could also consider allowing employees to change their hours of work on
a particular day so that they are able to watch sporting events in their own homes, by
say starting earlier so that they can then leave work earlier to watch a particular
event. This would hopefully encourage employees to attend work, knowing that they
will get the time off they need.
The information provided in this document is intended as general guidance only. The information is not intended
to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific
advice relevant to particular circumstances. Just Employment Law Ltd shall accept no responsibility for any loss
which may arise from reliance on the information in this document.
Just Employment Law Ltd retains copyright in this document and permission must be sought from Just Employment
Law Ltd before this material may be used for any other purpose.
Employers could also consider relaxing their internet use policies during the Games
so that employees are permitted reasonable internet access to keep up to date with
developments.
TRAVEL DISRUPTION
Due to an increase in traffic in and around Glasgow, especially on the days on which
major events are taking place, it may be that there is an increase in recorded
lateness. If employees’ travel is likely to be disrupted, employers may wish to give
them advance notice of that to remind them that they need to allow plenty of time for
their journey to arrive at work on time.
In special circumstances, depending on an employer’s location, they may even wish
to allow employees to work from home if the travel disruption is likely to be
significant.
Employers may also wish to consider limiting non-essential travel to areas where
travel will be disrupted by the Games and to well known congestion “hot spots”.
It is hoped that, by following the guidelines above, employers can minimise the
disruption to their businesses during the Games. Once the Games are over, they can
then hopefully breathe a sigh of relief that the sporting induced flurry of annual leave
requests from their staff is over... at least, that is, until 23 September 2014, when the
Ryder Cup returns to Scotland!
Gillian Cumming is a senior solicitor with Just Employment Law Ltd, Glasgow
Article published in The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland. Available to view at
http://www.journalonline.co.uk/Magazine/59-6/1014071.aspx
The information provided in this document is intended as general guidance only. The information is not intended
to constitute legal or other professional advice and should not be relied on or treated as a substitute for specific
advice relevant to particular circumstances. Just Employment Law Ltd shall accept no responsibility for any loss
which may arise from reliance on the information in this document.
Just Employment Law Ltd retains copyright in this document and permission must be sought from Just Employment
Law Ltd before this material may be used for any other purpose.