Aussies are divided after many workers voiced their frustrations about having to use up their annual leave over Christmas and New Year period.
Most Australian awards include a clause allowing bosses to request and force staff to take leave when businesses shut down for the festive season.
But angry Aussies have taken to social media demanding to have the option of being able to work through the holidays.
A single mum took to Reddit to lament about the ‘unfair’ predicament she was in.
‘I just hate being forced to take so much leave when my kids are with their dad, and then not having leave to spend when I actually CAN see my loved ones,’ she wrote.
‘I wouldn’t mind if it was a day, but being forced to take a third of my annual leave when I truly do not want to is just unfair.’
Other Aussies agreed and prefer leave during the break to not be taken from their accrued tally.
‘It’s annoying and makes no sense, if you want to make people take time off, then you should give us extra leave to cover it,’ one wrote.
Many Aussies have demanded to have the option of being able to work through the festive season (stock image)
Many Aussies aren’t happy that they’ve been forced to take annual leave during the Christmas period. Pictured: Sydneysiders celebrating the festive season in Martin Place
Another believes that if a workplace chooses to close down over Christmas, the annual leave ‘should be in addition to the legal 20 days of annual leave’.
‘It won’t likely happen, but I can dream,’ they added.
A third wrote: ‘My workplace shuts down for the two weeks but we get those two weeks as additional leave, that’s how forced leave should be.’
Others said being forced to take leave over Christmas meant they didn’t have enough for planned holidays in the new year.
‘I have holidays booked in January as I have a family commitment to attend to so basically I have to go into negative for December holidays,’ one commented.
A second added: ‘I’m childfree too so I prefer to work during the school holidays, let people have the time off with their kiddos and then take my own leave during the year when travel is cheaper.’
But many Aussies said they didn’t mind taking their annual leave over Christmas because they needed the break after a ‘very long year’. Pictured are Christmas Day revellers on Bondi Beach
Another who planned to work from home was instead told they would be taking leave to ‘spend time with the family’.
‘I’m single, and there are no kids yet in my family, guess I’m spending quality time with the dogs,’ they said.
Superior People Recruitment founder Graham Wynn, said it’s difficult for staff to get around the forced leave clause.
‘People don’t like it because they might want four weeks off during the year but they have to use a week over Christmas and New Year and I think that’s where people say, ‘This isn’t right… I don’t want holidays at that time’,’ he told Yahoo News.
‘But if your employee shuts down, that’s when you have to be on holiday.’
While many Aussies were infuriated by taking their leave, other workers were keen for a well-earned break.
‘I am crawling until my Christmas leave, I’m off for about two weeks and my brain definitely needs it,’ a Reddit user wrote in another post.
‘I know a few people are annoyed they have forced leave and it messes up their annual leave, but a forced reset can sometimes be good.’
‘I’ve never been so happy to have forced leave this year. I’m desperately in need of recharging and hopefully healing my body before a new years onslaught,’ a user replied.
