A considered approach to requests for leave from your dental team will help you avoid any issues such as resentment, reduced productivity or low morale, says Claire Bennett, Practice Management Consultant, British Dental Association.

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Dealing with requests for annual leave can be a tricky job, particularly where the requests are multiple and for the same popular holiday period. Requests must be balanced against the staffing needs of the practice, and sometimes this will mean you are not able to grant every application.

Clear and early communication with your team about staffing requirements and a considered approach to requests for leave will help you avoid any issues, such as resentment amongst those who have had their requests declined, staff calling in sick in the absence of having had annual leave approved, reduced productivity and low morale.

Notice and counter-notice

All workers have the right to 5.6 weeks' paid statutory annual leave a year - pro rata for those who work part-time. To request to take any part of that leave entitlement, workers are required to give notice to the employer. Unless the contract of employment provides for something different, the length of notice a worker is legally required to give when requesting annual leave is at least twice as long as the amount of leave they wish to take, for example, a dental nurse wishing to take one week's holiday would need to give two weeks' notice.

You are not obliged to agree to every annual leave request made by a member of your team and, where there is a good business reason for doing so, you may refuse a request. Where you are unable to grant a request, the law requires you (subject to any alternative contractual position) to give the worker as much notice of your refusal as the amount of leave they have requested, so, in the case of the dental nurse above, it would be one week.

A clearly communicated system or written policy for dealing with annual leave and annual leave requests will help guard against any claims of unfairness or discriminatory decision making on your part.

There may be occasions where you are able to grant a request for leave that has been made without the worker providing sufficient notice. If so, you do not need to stick rigidly to the legislative (or any contractual) notice period. Indeed, demonstrating some flexibility where possible, can go towards improving or reinforcing healthy staff relations.

Managing competing requests

It is relatively common for multiple requests for annual leave to be received for the same popular holiday periods - summer holidays or religious festivals, for example. You may be faced with competing requests for leave during school holidays from members of staff who are parents and those who are not. If so, you may be inclined to agree to the parent's request and to decline the non-parent's request. Prioritising the needs of one group of workers over the other in his manner should be avoided, as it can lead to feelings of irritation and unfairness.

Competing requests should be managed in a fair, consistent and non-discriminatory way. One way of achieving this is to operate a 'first-come-first-served' policy. This can help avoid accusations of unfairness and simplify the process for considering requests. However, such an approach may not favour the less well organised members of your team - potentially leading to grumbling and hostility amongst colleagues - and be of limited assistance where requests are received at the same time.

To tackle the issue of requests for the same period of leave made simultaneously, a rota system may be used. The effect of the rota system would be to prioritise a request made by a member of staff who had not had the same period of leave granted the year before over a request from a colleague who had.

In some cases, it may be appropriate for you to ask staff with competing requests for leave to explore whether they can find a solution between themselves.

Refusing requests

Despite your best efforts to accommodate staff requests for leave, practice operating arrangements and the needs of the business will inevitably mean that occasionally you must refuse a request. This can be disappointing for the team member concerned.

To avoid any lingering feelings of bitterness on the worker's part or complaints from them that you have behaved unreasonably or in a discriminatory way, it is good practice to explain the business reason behind the refusal. This may be that there are already too many members of the team on leave during the period or patient demand for the service during the leave period requested will be too high. An open and clear explanation from you as to why their request has been declined can help reassure the member of staff that the issue has been considered carefully and their request has not been rejected out of hand. As part of this conversation, it can be useful to explore alternatives with the member of staff - different leave dates; a shorter period of leave than requested; or, in the case of a staff member requesting leave for childcare reasons, a temporary adjustment to hours.

Where a member of staff requests annual leave reasons for childcare or religious reasons, refusing their request could amount to indirect discrimination. To avoid such a claim succeeding, you must be able to show that your decision was justified; you must have a legitimate aim you are seeking to achieve, and your refusal must be proportionate. Seeking to ensure your practice is sufficiently staffed is likely to be a legitimate aim. A proportionate response will involve some consideration of alternatives to a blanket refusal.

A practice policy

Taking the initiative when it comes to annual leave and the management of annual leave requests can help avoid thorny situations arising later. A clearly communicated system or written policy for dealing with annual leave and annual leave requests will help guard against any claims of unfairness or discriminatory decision making on your part. It will also help ensure that members of your team understand practice rules and expectations in relation to requesting annual leave, which is likely to reduce any resentment felt by an individual who has their request for holiday turned down.

Typically, an annual leave policy will set out how and when requests should be made - which might include asking members of staff to submit a holiday request form - and when they might be refused. A policy might also address how many staff are permitted to be on annual leave at any one time and confirm any periods during which staff will be required to take annual leave, due to a complete practice closure, for example.

This article was originally published in BDJ In Practice in January 2022.