Leave policy
This page explains how leave entitlement is calculated and how leave is requested and approved in Meridian Leave. It applies to office staff of OASIS Care and Training Agency and OASIS Workforce Solutions Limited who hold an account on the system.
1. Annual leave entitlement
Full-time staff receive 28 days of annual leave a year. Full-time is five working days a week, 9am to 5pm, with one unpaid hour for lunch, giving seven paid hours a day and 35 hours a week.
Entitlement is held and booked in days.
2. Bank holidays
Bank holidays are not part of the 28 days. The organisation is closed on bank holidays, all staff take them off, and nothing is deducted from the annual leave balance.
A full-time member of staff therefore has 28 bookable days and the bank holidays on top.
3. Part-time staff
Entitlement is reduced in proportion to the number of days worked each week, and is always rounded up:
| Days worked each week | Annual leave |
|---|---|
| 5 | 28 days |
| 4 | 23 days |
| 3 | 17 days |
| 2 | 12 days |
| 1 | 6 days |
The length of the working day does not reduce the number of days. A member of staff who works five days a week receives 28 days whether their day is seven hours or three, because each day of leave is worth their own hours rather than a full-timer’s. Someone working five three-hour days receives 28 days of leave worth 84 hours, against a full-timer’s 28 days worth 196 hours — the same proportion as their contracted hours.
This method assumes each of a person’s working days is the same length. Where a working week is made up of days of differing lengths, entitlement is calculated separately and recorded on the individual’s record.
Where a contract provides a different entitlement, that figure is recorded on the individual’s record and takes precedence over the table above.
4. Leave year and carry-over
The leave year runs from 1 January to 31 December.
Up to five days of unused annual leave may be carried into the following leave year. Carried days must be taken by 31 January, and any not taken by that date are lost. Days beyond five are not carried over.
5. Requesting leave
Leave is requested through the system rather than by email or in person, so that the record and the balance stay accurate. A request goes to the approver for the requester’s department or branch, who approves or declines it.
A request may be withdrawn before it is decided, or cancelled after approval, in both cases with a reason.
6. What colleagues can see
The shared calendar shows that a colleague is absent, on which dates, and the type of absence — for example annual leave, unpaid leave or sickness. It shows no reason for the absence and no medical information.
Absence must be visible so that cover can be arranged. The reason for an absence is never shown to colleagues.
7. Comments on decisions
An approver may add a comment when approving or declining a request, and a member of staff gives a reason when withdrawing or cancelling one. These comments are sent by email and are reproduced exactly as written.
Approvers must not refer to the reason for an absence in a decision comment. The system does not include the type of leave in any email, and a comment that mentions it would defeat that protection.
Staff should be aware that a reason given for withdrawing or cancelling a request is sent to the approver.
8. Sickness absence
Sickness is recorded as a category, dates and duration only. The system does not record reasons, symptoms, diagnoses or the content of fit notes, and must not be used to do so.
9. Questions
Questions about entitlement, a balance or an opening balance should go to the Compliance Officer. How personal information is used in the system is set out in the Staff privacy notice.