Can your employer decide when you take annual leave?

A family wedding, a booked holiday or a busy trading period can quickly turn annual leave into a workplace dispute. Employees may assume that having leave available means they can choose the dates. Employers may assume that business needs settle the matter. The legal position requires more care.

Who chooses the dates?

Section 20 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 gives the employer responsibility for determining when annual leave is taken, having regard to work requirements. The employer must also consider the employee’s need to reconcile work with family responsibilities and the opportunities available for rest and recreation.

The same section requires consultation with the employee, or their trade union, not later than one month before the leave begins. Consultation should give the employee an opportunity to explain their circumstances before arrangements are settled.

Can an employer require you to take holidays?

An employer may schedule leave, including during a shutdown, subject to those requirements and any relevant contractual terms. A policy about busy periods does not remove the need to consider the employee’s circumstances. Equally, requesting particular dates does not automatically secure approval.

A new rule requiring leave in fixed blocks should be examined against the contract, existing arrangements and statutory obligations. Employees should request written confirmation of approval before making commitments, and should not assume that a pending request permits them to remain absent.

What about holiday entitlement?

As the WRC explains, most employees are entitled to four of their normal working weeks of paid annual leave, with the calculation depending on time worked. A contract may provide more. Four working weeks does not necessarily mean twenty days for someone who works fewer than five days each week.

Section 19 also provides, subject to the agreements and instruments specified there, for an unbroken two-week period where an employee works eight or more months in the leave year. That does not give an unrestricted choice of dates.

Can you be penalised for raising a concern?

Section 26 protects employees against penalisation or threatened penalisation for invoking rights under the 1997 Act, subject to its terms. A genuine disciplinary issue must be distinguished from retaliation for exercising employment rights.

What should you do?

Keep the contract, leave policy, requests, approvals and correspondence. Explain any family commitments clearly and propose alternatives where possible. Employers should record their reasons, consultation and consideration of competing needs.

Where internal discussions do not resolve the issue, a WRC complaint may be appropriate. The usual time limit is six months from the alleged contravention, extendable to twelve months where reasonable cause is established. An internal grievance does not itself stop that clock.

Advice and consultations

For advice on annual leave or workplace disputes, contact David Danagher BL. Appropriate non-contentious advice may be sought directly. Contentious matters require a solicitor; David can recommend a suitable law firm to instruct him or work with your existing solicitor.

David Danagher BL
David.danagher@lawlibrary.ie
+353 83 396 2899
Request a consultation

General information on Irish law as at 31 October 2026. Individual circumstances and contractual terms require separate assessment.