Can employers decided when employees can go on vacation?
Question: Can employee vacation time be assigned to specific dates without employee input?
Answer: Yes. Both employment standards legislation and any written employment agreements are relevant to this question.
Employment standards legislation contemplates that the employer can assign vacation. However there are typically some parameters around that assignment. For example, employees are usually entitled to take their vacation annually. Some legislation contemplates that a certain number of vacation days must be consecutive. Most require that a certain amount of notice must be provided to the employee of the upcoming vacation (between one and four weeks as examples). Also, some statutes contemplate that vacation periods made be directed to be taken at certain times (such during a workplace shutdown).
As legislation varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, it may be appropriate to capture the employer’s right to assign vacation — subject to any constraints — in an employment agreement.
