We don't have many paid staff where I work, most are volunteers. In my particular position I deputise for the manager when he is absent, I also type letters for him and another member of staff when the typist is not available although typing letters is not my job. This is where I have a problem. The typist has two children, now both teenagers, and each year on the 2nd January she books her holidays for the whole year (1st January is a public holiday). She books her four weeks paid holiday PLUS at least six weeks unpaid holiday so that she has most of the school holidays covered. She was been permitted to do this when the children were young but has continued to do it even though they are older.

I am not allowed to take my holiday when the manager is taking his holiday, he has five weeks, and I am also not supposed to clash with my fellow assistant manager, she has four weeks holiday. The last mentioned is also not allowed to be off when the other Portuguese speaker is away so she has eight weeks when she cannot have holidays. I have as many as 20 weeks when I am not allowed to be away, as the typist takes Easter, Christmas and other times when we get a public holiday I cannot take advantage of four days giving me a full week - she can.

This week I complained to my manager and asked how much longer she was going to be permitted to do this. Whenever he or the other staff member want letters typed I have to stop my own work to give them priority, my work gets further and further behind causing me stress. No one is able to do my work when I am away so I have lots of catching up to do if I am away, I am still trying to catch up from the week I had in July.

Am I being mean in trying to stop her taking more than her four weeks paid holiday in future? It doesn't help that I am her immediate boss.

I don't consider that mean at all. She is obviously past the need to spend all the holidays at home, now that her children are teenagers. The boss should act rapidly and make sure things work more fairly. You sound as if you have enough to do, Sue.

Obviously you have to work around other employees for holidays so the whole office isn't off work at the same time but that situation is going a bit overboard! I can't think of many jobs that allow someone to take so much time off (the unpaid six weeks I mean) without replacing them and not putting that burden on other workers.

Like Ren says, those kids are old enough to look after themselves now .... and let's face it - they'd probably love not to have mum home during the holidays!

The lady is question seems to have had a good run on getting what she wants so far.The fact that she can "book " in the dates for when she wants holidays totally amazes me.Is this a first come first served type structure?And if it is[as it appears to be]it throws the management pyramid to hell.I believe that as her boss you should have some sort of veto about when this lady takes her holidays.I don`t feel that it`s a question of you being mean at all,as Ren posted it`s just fairness,plus the fact that you are her boss not the other way round

Vacation time is currently based on a first come, first served basis, if I understand the problem correctly. This should be changed to "senior paid staff gets first choice on vacation dates, then come junior paid staff, and then volunteers on a seniority scale."

The lowest on the priority list would naturally get the dates left over after everyone else has chosen... it is fair to do it this way because the person with the most time invested in the business should have first choice.

Another point: the maximum vacation days that anyone can take in succession should be set at, say, four weeks.

Lastly, there should be no person in the firm that is irreplacable. Everyone should have a trained back-up ready to take over in case of illness or even if someone quits. It's not a vacation time conflict being the issue here, but continuity of operation. The boss needs to know this.

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there should be no person in the firm that is irreplacable

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Great point! It's unfair that you have to work double hard after your own holidays.

I don't hear that you are mean about this at all. What I hear is frustration, and that you are an agreeable person who makes sure that your job is done, as well as taking on extra work whenever you are asked, to the point of becoming so stressed. I agree with others who have stated that the vacation time is something to be addressed, so that all involved are treated fairly. The length of the vacations also seems to be more than would be feasible for the type of situations that you describe. It appears that you have some seniority. Use it to suggest that the group brainstorm together as to how this could be more favorable for all concerned. Hope this works out for you.
SSB

One more thing Sue.We all saw what happened to Controversial Issues the last time you took a holiday.It seems leaving us all to pursue your own pleasure is a very selfish thing to do.Therefore after due consideration and thought I have decided that it would be better if you in fact didn`t take any vacation time at all.

Yes Roos, there is that about it for sure. I am going to suggest an alternative. We all go and stay with Sue for our hols. It is really beautiful there , sun sea and food....I can recommend. I can vouch for the hospitality... second to none. So what about that?

What I forgot to mention (totally ignoring the suggestion that you all come to visit) is that her husband is self-employed and works at home so in the event of problems they could go to him, oh and his mother lives next door.

Earlier this year I casually said to her that I thought she would be pleased that with the children getting older that she would soon be able to take her holidays to suit herself rather than having to have school holidays and she was almost in tears. I felt dreadful.

There is only one person who is (currently) indispensible, and that is me. This woman has asked our boss if she can learn my work and we both agreed, I spent ages preparing a load of stuff for her and left it that she should take it, learn html and write some pages - that was the better part of two years ago and she hasn't got back to me, when I mentioned it to her earlier this year she said she hadn't had the time. Apart from anything else, if she does some of my work she will expect to be paid extra hours, she likes extra hours (which I do free of charge), she will even attempt to charge for quarter of an hour over her time. Our contracts say we don't get paid overtime but she manages to get in a load in preparation for her extented holidays AND get paid.

What has irked me even more is that she has swanned into the office a couple of times in this past week, without any children in tow, and says "Now I am off to the beach" - as I am typing her letters!

This method of scheduling vacations really needs to change, but I'm surprised that no one's brought up the question of why this office needs a typist? With all the word-processing software currently available, what kind of witless creature CAN'T type a letter? (Be sure to show this to all your co-workers. *grin*)

She types the manager's correspondence! She also types for our Debt Adviser who simply doesn't have time to type her own letters.

She only works about 18 hours in a normal week, typing letters etc and organising leaflets, ordering them etc. If we were a large office her absence wouldn't matter as much as we could share her work out, but it all comes to me.

Should be fun on Monday, I have developed a leak, water is dripping through my kitchen ceiling from my bathroom above. I called out a plumber who has no idea if it is the plumbing or the heating, he has drained down the upstairs heating pipes and it is still dripping so it could be a messy job finding the leak - floor up, ceiling hacked about even a hollow wall breeched, we just don't know. He will telephone me on Monday to tell me when he will be back, the leak has to take priority over work and on Monday we have my co-assistant manager off on holiday - this means that TWO of the people I am not supposed to clash with are off AND me. The first problem is that there is now nobody to check e-mail, the boss has no idea how to log on my computer and get into Outlook - they grind to a halt! I have a stack of about twelve or more letters to type for the Debt Adviser before Tuesday - and my own work. This will be amusing, I don't think.

Well, old "Hard Hearted Hannah" here to say you should most certainly NOT feel mean. I think it's high time this woman think about others for a change. Sounds like she has had her own way around the office for quite some time.

You need to think of yourself once in a while Sue. It's a good thing you brought it up with your boss. It just is not fair. And the thing about the tears -- if she has a family problem at home, it should not be affecting her at work, or her co-workers. Maybe she needs to take a year off of work and attend to that first, then return to work when she can concentrate on her own work, and what it means to other people when she takes off so much time. Geez, it's not like there aren't other people at her home that can help!

If, on the other hand, she has been doing this without a real need, then it's high time it stopped.

This "Hard Hearted Hannah" has also been known to fire a volunteer! Grrrooowwwwll!

Until this year I have accepted it without comment, it is only now that her children don't NEED her that I object to her having the time off. I am sure it is great for her to be able to have days out with them, I am sure many working mothers would love to have that luxury.

This Christmas I am going to my daughter's house, she has been begging me for several years and with the dreadful problems with my son I realised that we have to seize opportunities as you don't know what is around the corner. Problem, she (the typist) has the week before and the week after Christmas off! We don't normally work beyond 12 noon on Christmas Eve so I decided to book a flight for the 23rd but thought any letters can wait for a few days. What it did mean is that I have to travel back immediately after Christmas, I literally have just three whole days instead of being able to take a week.

Sue, most of the "Office" arrangements for holidays are not part of anyones contract, the contract only say's how many days you are entitled to, it doesn't say you can't have a holiday if someone else is having their holiday.
There is no employment law in the UK that can enforce an employee to take or not take days off as holidays, any employee can take any day off as part of their holiday.
I agree there are the moral obligations but if every employee wants the same day as a holiday there is nothing an employer can legally do to stop them.

It isn't law here either but it is common practice, particularly in small companies or organisations, for staff not to be all away at the same time - otherwise they would have a shutdown such as they have in some companies in the UK. If you only have two people who know certain work you can't have them both off at the same time or it creates havoc.

When I used to work before I got married, when I lived in the UK, it was the practice where I worked there for no two members of staff to be on holiday at the same time, we used to operate 'first come, first served' there too. So although it might not be law it is common practice as well as sensible.

I agree that there are times that two people cannot take time off of work concurrently. However, holidays should be shared equally. My husband worked every other Christmas. For example, one year "A" works on Christmas while "B" is off. The next year, "B" works while "A" is off.

It seems to me that each person should take their turn. I know how you feel, Sue. When I worked, each and every Friday my boss would come to me and just have to have a 3 page letter typed at 10 minutes before closing. I finally asked my mother to pick me up so that he could see I had plans. (She waited on the chair next to my desk!) He never asked again!