Legal Question in Employment Law in Georgia

My husband just started with a new company last week. This company contracts all their recruiting to a specific outside firm. Prior to accepting the offer for employment, my husband spoke (via email) regarding taking 4 weeks leave during December as he and I will be travelling to New Zealand. This trip was booked long before my husband applied for the job with this company. The recruiter replied back that he checked with the company and there will be no issues.

His second day at his new job, my husband mentioned the New Zealand trip to his manager. The manager said he had no knowledge of the trip and that long leaves are not given to employees. He said he would look into it and will speak to my husband about it when he gets more information. This morning the manager told my husband that they cannot grant a 4 week leave and will require us to shorten our trip. The cost to make all the rearrangements will be over $5,000 as most of our bookings were non-refundable (some of the bookings we would have to cancel in order to make a shorter trip work). Is this legal for the company to require my husband to rearrange our trip? The recruiter is to act as a middleman during the hiring process as my husband didn't have communication access to his manager prior to hire. What are our options in this case?


Asked on 10/25/11, 7:25 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Scott Riddle Law Office of Scott B. Riddle, LLC

The employer is not "requiring" any change in any vacation. That is a personal issue, not an employment issue. The employer is taking the position that it does not approve 4 week vacations, and of course that is "legal." If there is a contract providing otherwise, you did not mention it. Although your husband was in the position of going through the recruiter, something like this should have been approved in writing by all parties beforehand. Even then, it would likely have been subject to change by the employer, as absent a contract employee can be terminated for any time for any reason (with few exceptions for unlawful discrimination). An employer telling an employee at the last minute that a vacation won't work out is not an uncommon issue, and often the employee has to make a decision.

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Answered on 10/25/11, 8:10 am


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