I have been working for a telephone center for 8 months now, in the sales department.
Today they announced us that the center will be closed for a week in August, because 15/8 is a big religious holiday for Orthodox Christians and nobody will be willing to have a serious conversation leading to a sale.
So far so good,
The problem is that they are making us use our personal earned vacation days (4, to be precise). Which creates a problem for me because I have made vacation plans a week prior that and my vacation days are not enough to do both.
When I talked to my supervisor, she told me that this is something that all of us will be doing and that she can’t do anything about it. I explained that I have plans and nobody had informed me that in summer the center will be closed and that I can’t cancel. She told me that this is not a problem but if I leave I will just not be paid. Alternatively she suggested me to email HR and let them know that I am not accepting the fact that the week I want to leave for my vacation will not be paid and hope for the best
FYI, this has happened twice before that in Christmas and Easter for the same reasons without me complaining about it.
Now my question is:
Is it legal for the company to make us , use our vacation days just because they decided that the center should be closed and if it is legal to not pay me if I am not present the week I have told them that I will be on summer vacation.