Can my employer make me use vacation days when the business is closed?
The employer usually can do this — the real question is whether they gave you enough warning to actually plan around it.
Yes, in most cases — this is one of the more settled areas of employment law in both countries, which surprises people who assume their vacation days are entirely theirs to schedule. In the US, most states allow employers to require accrued vacation or PTO be used during a shutdown, provided there's reasonable advance notice. In the UK, employers can direct you to take annual leave at specific times, but only with notice of at least twice the length of the leave being required, unless your contract already covers this. The notice requirement is where most disputes actually live — not whether the employer can do it at all.
What the law says
| United States | United Kingdom | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | No federal law directly addresses this — governed by state law and your employer's own written policy, reviewed against the FLSA for exempt/non-exempt pay implications | Working Time Regulations 1998 |
| Can the employer require it? | Generally yes, if the policy is written, communicated in advance, and applied consistently — some states set specific advance-notice expectations (e.g. California's Labor Commissioner treats 90 days as reasonable notice) | Yes, with notice of at least twice the length of leave required (e.g. 10 days' notice for 5 days of leave), unless a written contract term already permits shorter notice |
| If you don't have enough accrued time | Non-exempt hourly staff can generally go unpaid for the shortfall. Exempt salaried staff must receive full salary for any week in which they perform any work, unless the shutdown covers a full workweek with zero work performed | Statutory minimum entitlement is 5.6 weeks (28 days) per year — an employer directing leave still has to leave you able to take your full statutory entitlement across the year |
| Notice given after the fact | Generally not compliant — notice needs to come with enough lead time to actually qualify as "advance" | Directing leave with less than double the required notice, without contractual cover, is not compliant with the Working Time Regulations |
One nuance that trips up US salaried staff specifically: if a shutdown runs Wednesday through Friday and you worked Monday and Tuesday that week, your employer generally has to pay your full weekly salary regardless — they can require you to use PTO to cover the closure days, but they can't simply dock your pay for a partial-week closure without risking your exempt status. A full-week shutdown with zero work performed is treated differently, and can be unpaid if there's no PTO to draw on.
Your situation — which one is this?
Standard and compliant Your employer announced a holiday shutdown months in advance, in writing
Both a December closure announced back in September, and a UK shutdown communicated well beyond the double-notice minimum, are textbook compliant examples. This is the most common and least disputable version of a required-leave scenario.
Watch for this A shutdown announced only a week or two before it happens
In the UK, this likely fails the "twice the length of leave" notice rule unless your contract specifically permits shorter notice — check your written terms before assuming this is settled. In the US, short notice doesn't violate a specific federal statute, but it can breach your employer's own written policy, or simply leave you scrambling to rearrange plans you'd already made around your vacation time.
A real gap You don't have enough accrued PTO to cover the shutdown
US non-exempt staff: expect unpaid days for the shortfall, and you may be eligible for partial unemployment benefits depending on your state — worth checking rather than assuming. US exempt staff: your employer generally can't dock your salary for a partial-week shutdown regardless of your PTO balance, though a full-week closure is handled differently.
Worth checking Whether the directed leave still leaves you your full statutory UK entitlement
If your employer directs so much leave toward shutdowns that you can't take your full 5.6-week statutory minimum across the year, that's a separate problem worth raising — the shutdown itself isn't unlawful, but squeezing out your full entitlement can be.
Where employers get it wrong
"We're closing the office from December 24 to January 2, announced in September. All staff should plan to use accrued PTO for these dates; anyone without sufficient balance should speak to HR about options."
Announcing a shutdown with a week's notice and no written policy backing it up, then treating any objection as unreasonable — without acknowledging that the short notice itself may not meet the legal minimum in the first place.
What to say
If notice seems too short
If you don't have enough accrued time
If the notice doesn't meet the requirement
- Check your written contract and employee handbook first — many disputes resolve simply by confirming what's actually written there.
- Raise the specific notice-period shortfall in writing, rather than objecting to the shutdown itself.
- UK: unresolved disputes over directed leave and notice periods can be raised through ACAS.
- US: if you're non-exempt and facing unpaid shortfall days, check your state's specific unemployment eligibility rules for partial shutdowns.
Related questions
Official sources
- UK — Working Time Regulations 1998, statutory annual leave and notice rules
- US Department of Labor — FLSA guidance on exempt salary basis and business closures
- Your specific US state's Department of Labor guidance on required PTO use (varies by state)
Check whether your shutdown notice actually adds up
Use our Directed Leave & Notice Period Checker to confirm whether a shutdown announcement meets the minimum notice standard for your situation.
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