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Employment Law Tip: Juggling Vacation Requests

The summer vacation season is in full swing, and that means supervisors are getting inundated by employee vacation requests, some of which might be last-minute. While you don’t want to interfere with employee plans to spend time with their family and friends, you also need to make sure your business staffing needs are adequately covered, which means you might not be able to grant all the vacation requests coming your way. But watch out, because if supervisors aren’t careful, a disgruntled employee who is forced to work when he or she would rather be on vacation could charge that vacation requests were considered in a discriminatory manner.


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How can you avoid this scenario? First and foremost, instruct managers that they must be consistent in how they consider employee requests for time off and stick to your policies and procedures regarding vacation requests. Second, supervisors should be sure to explain to employees why a vacation request was denied, and to document those reasons. Third, if there are certain “blackout” dates when employees can’t take vacation, be sure to give workers plenty of advance notice, preferably in writing.

Additional Resources:

Sample Vacation Policy

Sample Vacation Request Form

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