I work for a small cleaning company with a fluctuating work force of mainly part-timers working odd and/or erratic hours.
As a basic standard we have always endeavoured to manage our staff holidays to avoid conflict (with staff and business alike) by which I mean trying to ensure a steady flow throughout the year. This sometimes means that we encourage staff to take their time-off when it suits us rather than everybody asking for the same times. This works well and avoids peaks and troughs in holiday cover.

Recently I discussed this with my share-holders and was told that this was nonsense! Just because an employee is entitled to statutory holiday doesnt mean that they have to take it. This was further clarified by the said share holder saying that in their other companies they had staff that never took any time off for holidays – ever!
I responded to this by saying that statutory holiday was about ensuring the working time directive was upheld and that all staff received adequate rest – I felt that we had a legal and moral obligation to ensure that we cared for our work force correctly.
The share holder responded to this by saying that certain multi-national cleaning companies only made a very small profit margin and that profit often hinged on with-holding of statutory holiday from staff.
As you can imagine this left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I have waited a few weeks to calm down before asking for advice.
Who is right legally? ( I know who is right morally!!! lol)

Many thanks in anticipation of a response to this…
michele lincoln