Sandy Lane Automotive strives to provide a healthy workplace that supports a work/life balance and provides employees with an uninterrupted period of time away from their regular duties to promote this work/life balance.
The purpose of this policy is to provide a consistent approach to managing vacation time. It is the joint responsibility of the company and the employee to ensure the vacation leave is scheduled and taken at a mutually agreeable time.
The company shall use its discretion in scheduling vacation, based on the occurrence of peak workload periods,the employee’s length of service and such other factors relevant to the operation of the department and the personal circumstances of the employee.
Hourly and flat rate employees will accrue vacation time starting on the first day of employment. Vacation accruals are based on the length of service, and are as follows:
- Up to 5 years: 2 weeks paid annual vacation – (4% vacation pay) – 10 working days per year
- Over 5 years: 3 weeks paid annual vacation – (6% vacation pay) – 15 working days per year
One full year must be worked to accrue the full annual entitlement, although we do allow employees to book time off prior to their one year of service, and use whatever vacation time they’ve accrued at that time.
These entitlements are consistent with the rules outlined by Alberta Employment Standards.
Employees are expected to schedule vacation time at least seven days in advance, although more notice would be preferable. All vacation requests must be submitted using the form found on the company website (“Request Vacation Days Off”), and approval must be given by management before vacation time will be granted.
Management will always have final approval as to whether or not vacation time will be granted, and there is no guarantee that we will approve any specific request for time off.
A staff calendar can be found on the employee website, which shows vacation schedules for each department, as well as statutory holidays, paydays, company events, and busy seasons.
Vacation is granted on a first come, first serve basis, which is why we recommend booking days off well in advance. If one or more employees has a scheduled vacation day, it is less likely that others will be able to take that day off, as well.
If two or more employees wish to book the same day(s) off, the vacation day(s) will be granted to the person who sent the request first, according to the timestamp on the vacation request form.
For shop staff, no vacation time will be granted during spring or fall busy season (the days on the staff calendar that have an orange dot). Any requests will be denied.
At the employee’s request, vacation pay may be released without taking actual vacation time, but this means that any vacation time taken in the future may be unpaid. Please be advised that releasing vacation pay on top of a full paycheque may result in excess taxes being deducted; this is automatic, and we cannot change tax deduction amounts.
Vacation hours will be paid on the paycheque following the pay period in which the vacation was taken, unless otherwise requested.
Vacation hours not used by December 31 will carry over into the following year, although no employee shall have more than their maximum entitled days accrued at any given time unless vacation time is already booked. For example, if an employee is entitled to three weeks’ vacation, and has four weeks available with no time off booked, they will be required to either book time off, or the company will book the time off for them. Alberta Employment Standards states that all employees must take their vacation time within the twelve months after they earn it.
Please note that, due to restrictions in our payroll system, we cannot release vacation pay on each cheque.