Leave for casuals

So I booked a family holiday to Cairns about 3 months ago , our first holiday in two and a half years. DD17 finally got herself a casual job at the start of the week after almost a year of trying. It’s with a fast food outlet. What’s the chances of her getting 10 days leave for the holiday given she hasn’t had her first shift yet? She signed the contract and gave them bank and tax file details etc a few days ago. She also contacted the hiring manager via the app - apparently all communications for the hiring process was through the app - two days ago but no response as of yet.

Can we just have a holiday without all the added stress and drama? And we’re not even talking Covid drama!

She’s allowed to say no to shifts being casual, may be a different story if they give her any more shifts after the holiday

She’s allowed to say no to shifts being casual, may be a different story if they give her any more shifts after the holiday

Sorry what do you mean about after the holiday? Just that they’ll expect her to do more given the holiday. I thought the contract said she needs to make herself available for a certain number of shifts per week

She can say no to any shift (contract dependent I guess, if she has to be available for a certain amount per week I’d think there would also be something about leave?), but they don’t have to offer her any shifts- I’d be concerned that if she says no they won’t offer her any shift after the holiday.

That said I took many holidays while working casually as a kid, but not just after I’d started.

Oh no, how unfortunate timing! I would assume that if she were to take 10 days leave just after starting that they wouldn't be happy to give ongoing shifts, due to potential issues of reliability.

BUT, if she is able to contact the manager or hiring person directly and negotiate a later starting date?

Look, I personally would get your DD to talk to her immediate boss or if she doesn’t have one yet, talk to the hiring manager and just explain the situation.

Believe it or not, most are understanding.

She can say no to any shift (contract dependent I guess, if she has to be available for a certain amount per week I’d think there would also be something about leave?), but they don’t have to offer her any shifts- I’d be concerned that if she says no they won’t offer her any shift after the holiday.

That said I took many holidays while working casually as a kid, but not just after I’d started.

That’s what I’m worried about. Typical timing that she applies for about 30 jobs in 9 months and she barely gets any response until we’re 6 weeks out from our first holiday in 30 months.

She should talk to them. If they say no, they say no. She is old enough to stay home and work if she'd rather keep the job, though I realise these days hardly anyone believes in such solutions. But luckily, maybe the employers also won't believe in such solutions and will give her the time off.

Just wanted to enforce.....make sure her employer understands the situation and that she’s not just rejecting shifts.

Like I said before, being upfront, any decent manager would understand and not hold it against her. I know you said that she’s been applying for 9 months, but if her manager holds this against her, it’s probably going to be a horrible situation and not a nice place to work anyway.

She will however need to be available pretty much every time she is asked to work for the short term after your holiday.

Alternatively to her staying at home, could she go on holiday later or come home earlier to work? I've done that for a job while a university and over the summer holidays. Just went home earlier than the rest of the family. Only one ticket to change.

She can say no to any work, but I agree with others, she can’t then expect to get shifts.

We have casuals at work and those willing to turn up and work are given priority shifts.

At 17 what is more important to her - a job or a holiday?? I would give her the option to stay home, or like pp, leave the holiday early.

I would def be telling her to speak to her manager.

Yep first thing I did was advise her to contact the hiring manager and explain the situation. She did but hasn’t heard back - that was two days ago. I also told her to tell the hiring manager she’s willing to do extra shifts the week before and after as she’ll be on school holidays. But as I said no response.

I think this is a bit different from previous years. At 17 this may be her last ever family holiday, and although it's right up there with first world problems, I'd like to think a manager would understand.

Good luck to her.

At 17, I’d want her to come on a family holiday. How many of those are likely to be left?

Explain to the employer that this was a holiday already planned. Fast food places tend to have a lot of kids on their roster, so hopefully they can just leave her off the roster for that time. Especially if it is school holidays and there is lots of availability of other kids,

At 17, I’d want her to come on a family holiday. How many of those are likely to be left?

Explain to the employer that this was a holiday already planned. Fast food places tend to have a lot of kids on their roster, so hopefully they can just leave her off the roster for that time. Especially if it is school holidays and there is lots of availability of other kids,

This is the way I feel. There is every chance this will be our last family holiday. She only just turned 17 too - last week and is still in Year 11. I would not feel comfortable with her catching planes by herself either especially when we have to catch two flights each way to get there and back. I do hope it will all work out. It’s not one of the big fast food chains either. The timing of it all is just so frustrating.

It's only ten days... By the time they get her set up and rostered on it could easily be a few weeks before she gets her first shift anyway. I'd encourage her to be proactive contacting the manager and saying "great! Thrilled to have the job. When will my first shift be? Just checking as I have a long standing family holiday arranged which is awkward timing but I can't wait to start two weeks from now when I will be fully available!"

When I worked as a casual (not in fast food though) I was able to take leave whenever I wanted, but it was my responsibility to find someone to cover my shift.. Does she know anyone who already works there? Could she say "so-and-so friend is willing to cover my shifts until I'm back from my already-planned holiday, and then I'm free to work whenever you need me."

Being 17, she's at an age where it's harder to find employment with a fast food chain as they prefer younger kids, due to being cheaper to pay.

She runs the risk of finding herself without any shifts being allocated once she returns. Is she happy to take that risk?

One of my adult kids recently started working weekends, after being unemployed for a couple of years. They were planning on attending an event recently, as they'd missed it last year due to covid lockdown. They knew it would be poor form to take the day off, so chose to miss the event. The day before, their roster changed and they were able to go to the event after all.

I know a workplace that hired someone last year, and it was made clear to them in the interview it was expected they work over the Christmas/New year period, which was a month away. During their second week, they made it clear they were going to take 2 weeks off over that period - they were shown the door.

Hospitality is being really hard on causals. My BIL is a head chef in NZ and first lockdown, the first ones shown the door were the casuals.

Even with NZ going back to normal well before Victoria and other parts of Australia, he was told by the owners that because of Covid, no one was to take leave at Christmas, as they had their holidays from work during lockdown.

He resigned over having to do that to his staff.

Last year and this year are not buisness as usual, and businesses are doing tough things they normally won't do.

I don't really have any advice OP it s tough one. Your daughter should try to talk to her Manager asap but I know she has already tried and not received a reply which makes it hard. But sadly even if her Manager did say it was ok to take the holiday there is no guarantee as to what would happen when she got back.

A friend of mine worked 1 or 2 days a week in a homewares type shop. She went away for a month and during that time the other staff covered her absence - she some did a bit extra I think and they also managed with less staff at times. Unfortunately my friend ended up out of a job when she came back which was a shame, the job suited her well, it was close to home and the money was very handy.

I think that she should definitely talk to the manager and make herself unavailable for shift between x and y for a pre-booked family vacation - but am willing to fill any shifts during my available times prior to x- date and post y- date - show willing and be accommodating is a good mantra for casual work.

Each workplace will be a little bit different how they manage casuals and their availability.

I had a job in Uni where I needed to be available every Saturday afternoon to close so that the owners could have family time. I was more expensive than a junior but it was a small workplace where the owners worked long hours and me doing this shift was crucial to them having a half day together. As a consequence I prearranged important dates like weddings but never asked for time off for anything else. If I had I would have been replaced.

But I wasn’t doing closing shifts when I first started. There is a chance she may not have even been put on the roster until a few training shifts have been successfully completed. A lot of kids quit or don’t make it past training so that could explain why the hiring manager doesn’t want to talk about her “leave” just yet.

When my DS started at one of the big fast food places it was 4 weeks of training (two shifts per week) followed by a 3 week gap with no shifts before he started with regular work. This was probably because they needed to sort out the 'best fit' for each of the new starters with existing staff / rosters to ensure that there was good shift cover.

You may find that it just works out that way and will not impact your holiday. However be prepared that during this first year she will get every public holiday, Christmas day, New Year and next years Easter....

Does she need the job? Does she want the job? If yes, then she should skip the holiday. Leave her home and go without her. First impressions are important, you don’t want to be the person that immediately goes off on a holiday.

As you say, it’s taken a year to find something, it may take a year to find something else.

When I worked as a casual (not in fast food though) I was able to take leave whenever I wanted, but it was my responsibility to find someone to cover my shift.. Does she know anyone who already works there? Could she say "so-and-so friend is willing to cover my shifts until I'm back from my already-planned holiday, and then I'm free to work whenever you need me."

I think this is ideal. It shows the company that she is responsible and can show initiative to fix a problem.