Can an employer force you to take a vacation

Should you go on vacation

It is easy to remember pleasant information, so almost everyone knows that in Russia a working person has the right to annual paid leave. By default, it is 28 days. But there can be more if a person works, for example, in dangerous conditions or in certain structures.

Most often, the employee thinks that he has the right to freely dispose of the opportunity to take a vacation: to choose when to leave for it, or not to rest at all. But this is a delusion.

The employer is obliged to send you on vacation and make sure that you walk the prescribed 28 days during the year. Otherwise, he could be fined. If the vacation is longer, it is allowed to receive compensation for the remaining days.

Sometimes the vacation is allowed to be carried over to the next year. But only if the absence of an employee jeopardizes the work of the company, and he himself agrees to wait.

Can the employer send you on vacation if you don't want to

The main document that regulates when you should rest is the vacation schedule. It must be prepared no later than two weeks before the end of the previous calendar year. When drawing up the schedule, the norms of the law, the opinion of the trade union and the wishes of the employee are taken into account.

However, "taken into account" does not mean that your proposals will be decisive. Your vacation may well be shifted because it overlaps with your partner’s vacation, or for other reasons. Here is how to agree (or not agree).

The wishes are of key importance only for some categories of workers: pregnant women, large families and those who are raising children with disabilities. In addition, this applies to part-time workers: their vacation must coincide with the vacation at the main job.

The vacation schedule is compulsory for both the employer and the employee.

That is, if the dates are included in the schedule, it is signed by the head of the HR department and approved by the employer, then all employees must go on vacation according to this schedule. If you change your mind, of course, you can be met. But the employer is not obliged to do this.

What he really needs is to notify you two weeks in advance, by signature, that you will have to rest. And even three calendar days before the start of the vacation or earlier, you must transfer the vacation pay.

If you have to go on vacation according to the schedule, you were notified about it on time and the money was paid, you will have to rest.

Is it possible not to go on vacation at all

If the employer met all the conditions - made a vacation schedule on time, notified you of the upcoming vacation and paid the money - technically, you will be on vacation one way or another. However, you can continue to go to work and work, but you will not receive a salary - during this period you have already been given vacation pay. True, the employer, for his part, may not accept this situation and bring you to justice for violation of labor discipline.

If at some stage of registration of the vacation the employer violated the rules, then he is obliged to postpone your vacation for another period agreed with you. To do this, you must submit a written application. Its text might look something like this:

According to the approved vacation schedule for 2020, my annual paid vacation is scheduled for the period from December 1 to December 14. The employer did not notify me about the start of the vacation, which he had to do in accordance with article 123 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In accordance with article 124 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, I ask you to postpone my vacation for the period from February 1 to February 14, 2021.

If there is no vacation schedule at all, then the employer not only violates the law, but also loses leverage and cannot force the employee to go on vacation.