Can they not let me go from work? Find good reasons to leave work early. Bad reasons to take time off from work

Each of us has thought about how to take time off from work at least once. We suggest exploring all options for safely leaving the workplace to resolve urgent personal matters.

Let's make an excuse!

The pattern of behavior is largely determined by the loyalty of the employer, because there are still those who do not make sure that all employees are sitting in their seats “from” to “to”. For them, the main thing is that the company prospers and things get done. In this case, there will be no difficulties with how to ask your boss to take time off from work. Sometimes, it’s not even necessary to report to your boss about being away for a few hours - he’s unlikely to notice your absence from the workplace, and if anything happens, his colleagues will cover for you.

But what if the boss is harsh and controls every step of his subordinates? In this case, you can try to find a valid reason for urgently solving problems, and, by the way, the boss himself is not immune from them.

Good excuses include:

    helping my wife when her car breaks down;

    a call from an elderly lonely neighbor with SOS signals;

    small child alone at home;

    be on time for the post office, tax, insurance, social security and other institutions whose operating hours coincide with your work schedule;

    unexpected arrival of distant relatives who are hovering under the door.

In all these cases, you can only put pressure on the boss’s conscience - he is also a person, he must understand. But the less often such “cataclysms” happen, the easier it will be to leave early or stay late during the lunch break.

We find a good reason!

If none of the excuses work, then truly valid reasons will help you take time off from work, because of which your boss cannot prohibit you from leaving your work post:

    a visit to the doctor, including with a small child (the same reason is suitable for those who are thinking about how to take time off from work during pregnancy);

    emergency situation at your place of residence (pipe break, fire, threat of terrorist attack, etc.);

    a subpoena to appear as a witness or juror.

All these reasons must be documented. It is clear that it is impossible to provide a certificate about a pipe break from the housing department in advance, so it will have to be taken after the fact. But a copy of the subpoena can be attached to the application immediately.

When deciding how to take a day off from work, it is worth remembering the accumulated time off. You can compensate for working overtime or going on a holiday (day off) not only in monetary terms, but also in kind. In this case, according to Article 152-153 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the employer also does not have the right to refuse.

We do everything wisely!

Many employers do not insist on submitting an application, but you should write one, even if you are thinking about how to take a few hours off work. Today the boss is in a good mood, but tomorrow he discovers a marriage and goes berserk, remembering all the sins, including solving personal problems during working hours. As a result, time off will turn into absenteeism, the punishment for which can be very severe, including dismissal.

A sample will help you on how to write an application to take time off from work without harming your career and wallet. To be fair, we note that there is no strict form of the text, but it is worth remembering the following points:

    indicate the addressee as is customary in the company (somewhere the application is written to the most important person, somewhere to the head of the HR department, and somewhere to the head of a department or division);

    write the paper in two copies (both are endorsed, but one remains with the management, and we take the other for ourselves);

    attach documents proving a valid reason;

    indicate the date and exact time of absence from work in order to exclude incorrect deductions from earnings.

On a note! The time you are absent when writing an application for time off is not paid at your own expense.

A categorical “no” - what to do?

In some cases, it is impossible to leave for personal matters for objective reasons, for example, an on-duty resuscitator or a member of a fire department cannot leave the workplace due to the specific nature of their work activity. But what to do if the manager is categorically against even an hour-long absence of an employee, despite the presence of a statement? How to competently ask for time off from work in this case?

The employer does not have the right to prohibit time off if the employee:

    donates blood (donation is not only a noble, but also a legal way to get two whole free days - on the day of blood donation and the next one);

    gets married or gets married;

    discharges his wife from the maternity hospital;

    organizes the funeral of a close relative.

In these cases, you don’t have to think about how to take 1 day or more off work, because labor legislation obliges the employer to provide days off.

For family reasons, the following must also be unconditionally released:

    veterans of the Great Patriotic War (and persons equivalent to them);

    disabled people with working groups;

    spouses or parents of military and police officers;

    working pensioners.

On account of vacation

How to properly take time off from work if all of the above methods do not work? For example, when planning how to take half a day off from work, you can write an application for time off on account of the vacation, accurately indicating the time of absence. The law will not allow the boss not to let the employee go, because here we are no longer talking about time off, but about granting extraordinary leave.

You can take a few hours or days regardless of:

    whether the vacation is completely spent or not;

    before or after the next rest.

We figured out whether it is possible to take time off from work according to the law and how to do this by agreement with the employer. It remains to be reminded that this practice should not be abused, because no one likes workers with constantly ill relatives or those who are unable to restore worn-out communications.

09.02.2018

We are all human, sometimes we have to leave work early, there is nothing fantastic about this. After all, employees are people with responsibilities who can't always solve their problems exclusively on weekends and outside of work hours. In most cases, if you ask to leave work early, they will let you go, but only if you have the right to do so. legal grounds or compelling reasons.

Reason to leave work early

There are certain factors that can help or hurt your chances of leave work early. Organizational culture, your relationship with your manager, and your work history in terms of attendance and punctuality will influence whether you are let go early. For example, some employers reward employees if they maintain a work-life balance, while others require that everything be done by the hour. I had an employer who forbade staying late at work and working on weekends () so that I could spend time with my family.

Company policy may provide a waiver if you leave early, and some companies may have to make up the missed hours.

How to ask your employer to leave early

How you ask to leave your job early affects the response you get. The best approach in many situations is to ask, rather than inform, the employer: “Can I leave work early because...” will produce a more positive outcome than “I will leave work early because I need...”. It will be better if you offer to compensate for the missed hours.

By the way, if you explain to your manager that it is beneficial for him to even let you go, then you may not even need to offer to compensate for the missed time. For example, “If I take care of my treatment this month when we are not as busy with work, then I will not have to do it next month when there is more work.”

Avoid asking to leave work early if your manager or team is stressed, overworked, or busy with an important project.

Good excuses for leaving work early

While there are legal and illegal excuses to leave work early, remember that your employer's response will depend on your position as an employee rather than the reason you provide.

The more often you try to leave early, the more difficult it will be to do so without criticism, regardless of whether your reasons are valid. Ultimately, you need to be honest about why you want or need to leave early. This depends, of course, on human factors, but there are still general rules for when you can ask to leave work early.

Reasons to take time off from work early:

  • Religious Obligations or community-related work, such as volunteering at an event offered by a local nonprofit (especially if your organization encourages volunteering).
  • Networking activities, including attending local chambers of commerce meetings, or attending industry events or conventions (especially if networking with potential business partners assessed by your employer).
  • Obligations client related, such as traveling to a client assignment that will take place the next day or visiting an important client.
  • Professional development activities, such as participating in a workshop or starting a class early, or working on a group project for a course your supervisor encouraged you to take.
  • Employment-related activities such as a job interview if you got notice of future layoffs from your current employer.
  • Family obligations, including sudden illness, accident or death, or if you need to pick up a child early, if their school closes early or if they are sick. (Some workplaces may also allow you to leave early to take your child (or pet) to the doctor (or veterinarian).
  • Personal reasons: an illness or condition such as a severe seizure, migraine, allergic reaction or dental emergency such as a root canal or toothache, childbirth, etc. Doctor's orders or medical tests may also be good reasons to leave the office before closing, although in general you should aim to schedule them outside of office hours if possible. (If you need to leave work early for a medical appointment, maybe useful to note that you tried to make an appointment before or after work or during your lunch break, but no appointments were made.)
  • Urgent or important home and financial issues, including meeting with a mortgage advisor, attending a closing to purchase a new home, dealing with emergencies in your home such as a burst pipe, broken furnace, fire or break-in, or delivery of furniture, appliances or any other item that requires a signature and must take place during working hours.

Bad reasons to take time off from work

Be sure to review the list of unexcused reasons. They worry us more, because the human factor plays here, not the law, will your boss let you go, or is it better not to use these reasons as an excuse.

  • To you boring or are you tired and Do you want to sleep(By the way, );
  • Hangover. (If you have a severe hangover and an unpleasant odor, then the employer can send you home, but this is not the same as asking for time off. This can lead to a reprimand and ruin your relationship with your superiors)
  • Collect interviews for a new job (especially if your bosses don’t know about your plans)
  • Receipt bad news at work (you can’t be here anymore, you need to rest. For example, you received a salary that was less than expected)
  • Feeling overload or stress;
  • Playing sports, yoga and other hobbies;
  • Personal problems such as breakup with girlfriend whom you've only been dating for two weeks
  • Non-urgent matters, which may be considered outside of work, such as going to the hairdresser, getting an oil change, buying groceries or rushing to go to the bank when it could be done online or on the weekend;
  • Arrival of a friend from another city;
  • A date has been arranged. Even if you've been waiting for this date all your life, you had to in advance take care of time;
  • Match your favorite team (Only if it's not your boss's favorite team. 🙂)
Stick to the facts

When you leave your job, stick to the facts so you don't get caught lying. If you say you're sick and your colleague sees you on a date, it's unlikely you'll ever be able to regain your authority. If you still decide to lie, then exclude all ways to get in front of your boss and colleagues, do not publish anything on social networks and do not brag after the event that you went there. Otherwise, your career may end here, or it will be like in the fairy tale “Don’t Cry Wolf” - when you really feel bad, they won’t let you go, because they simply won’t believe you.

Strive to do your best and take care to maintain positive relationships with your managers and be honest, and develop yours at work. The better your relationship with your boss, the more likely you are to be able to leave your job earlier when necessary.

It's not always so easy to leave work for the day. Although many reasons are valid and are even enshrined in the Labor Code, the last word remains with management. It is management that will decide whether to give a day off or not. If you need to leave and don’t know how to take 1 day off from work, then this article is for you.

What is the best way to talk to your manager to ensure you get the day off? Not everyone succeeds in this, so you need to find an approach

How to ask your boss for time off

The following tips may help:

  1. Of course, you should not call and talk about this request or ask for a day off on the same day. You must ask for time off in person, you can use the phone to ask for time off only if you are seriously ill and you should not come to work so as not to infect anyone, or in some other emergency.
  2. You should contact your boss at the very beginning of the week. You should ask for time off in advance so that the boss can find a replacement for you.
  3. When communicating with your manager, you should explain in detail and confidently the circumstances that require you to take time off, but you should not be overly verbose or emotional.
  4. Be polite, calm and confident.
  5. It should also be added that you have completed most of the work, and the rest will be ready on time. Show that the time off will not affect the work process in any way.
  6. To get in touch, leave your contact details, in case you need to clarify something with you about your work.

How to take one day off from work: reasons

Reasons that are considered valid for taking time off from work.

CauseDescription
The need to visit official authoritiesIt may be necessary to apply for a replacement passport, register real estate, or something else. These organizations operate only on weekdays and are closed on weekends. And the queues, for example, at the passport office are very long and it can take the whole day. That is why, in order to visit such places, you should take a day off from your superiors.
Difficulties with transportPerhaps you were caught in a big traffic jam, a small accident, or your car suddenly broke down on the way to work. You can't abandon your car in the middle of the road, can you? So, this can be considered a serious reason for taking time off.
Family problemsThis is often the most common reason, but for management this is one of the most serious reasons. Perhaps you need it for your child's school holiday or for your elderly grandmother's birthday. This also includes meeting relatives at the station.
Need to pass examsPerhaps you need to pass exams for your license or you have a session at the university; in such cases, time off is simply necessary and it is unlikely that your boss will be able to help you with this.
Due to illnessRequesting time off due to illness is one of the most respectful requests for an employer.
You urgently need medical helpIf you are not feeling well or your young child is sick, then the manager should simply give you time off so that you can seek medical attention. Such a reason could be either a high temperature or the need to undergo tests. In this case, the employer will not be able to refuse you.
Donation

A completely legal method for getting two days off is to donate blood. The day of delivery and the next day are a day off. By law, these days off must be paid.

In this case, you need to present a document that will prove that you donated blood. However, the authorities can rarely release you for regular donation, but only when it is necessary for close relatives or if you are a donor with a rare blood type.

For personal reasons

Time off can be obtained for personal reasons. What can be classified as such circumstances for the employer to approve the desired time off?

The birth of a child is a circumstance that allows you to take time off from work

These include:

  1. Birth of a child. For this reason, the employer is unlikely to refuse the request.
  2. Subpoena for court hearing. If there is a situation where an employee has been summoned to a court hearing as a juror or as a participant in a trial, the boss does not have the right to prohibit the employee from leaving the workplace.
  3. The emergence of emergency household problems. In emergency situations, when, for example, a subordinate's front door is jammed, he is stuck in an elevator, or cannot leave the house due to a broken water supply, the boss should give the subordinate a day off. But only under these circumstances you need to prove why you were unable to come to your workplace. As evidence, you can take a document from the relevant organization or emergency service.
  4. You can also add circumstances such as a close relative and wedding.

On account of paid leave

By agreement with his superiors, the subordinate is obliged to prepare for the provision of a future day off, deducting it from the main paid leave. The employee must submit the prepared document to the employer for approval, and then send it to the personnel department.

The following categories of persons are entitled to unused days from vacation earlier than 6 months from the start of work:

  • pregnant women who will soon go on maternity leave;
  • persons under the age of majority;
  • parents who have become parents or adoptive parents of children under three months of age.

Employees must fill out a sample application, which is drawn up according to the established rules.

Vacation at your own expense

To ask for time off, you must draw up a statement with the following wording:

“I ask you to grant me leave without pay for 1 working day - 06/18/2018 - due to the urgent need to be present in the house at my place of registration during urgent electrical repairs.”

How to write an application for leave at your own expense

This document for a day off without saving earnings can be drawn up at any time. Whether the boss will sign the application or not is impossible to guess. A large number of factors influence the granting or refusal of unpaid leave.

Starting from the reason you provided, whether your boss considers it respectful enough or not, and ending with how your boss treats you. Perhaps he considers you an irreplaceable employee or does not like you and because of this does not want to give you time off.

It is also important to know your rights well, be ready to defend your own interests and demand time off in accordance with cases that guarantee a day off by law. After all, this will come in handy if your employer does not give you permission to take time off.

Find out how to send an employee on vacation at your own expense in this video:

Application for time off

How to get a day off from work? Even if your boss doesn’t tell you anything, you still need to write a statement. It should be taken into account that your boss may completely forget that he released you for the day, and this may lead to a reprimand, a fine, or even loss of your job. There is no single model, however, there are certain rules that are accepted in many companies. These include:

The application must be completed in two copies. One must be signed by your employer, and the other must remain in your hands. Before you start writing a statement, you need to find out who exactly needs to address it, the main boss or your manager.

This question needs to be clarified. Your company has certain rules that must be followed. If your application uses any documents or certificates, then it is very important to refer to them in the text of the application itself.

We are talking about some kind of certificates from a hospital record or appointment cards from your attending physician. It is very important to refer to the duration of absence from work in your application.

It also happens that you need to take time off for a short time due to certain circumstances, and then it becomes unclear how to leave your workplace for one hour? The appeal itself must contain information about the time that you will not be present at work, and deductions from wages will only be for a certain time; it is necessary to avoid any misunderstandings. The application must be written in a certain form, which can be obtained from the secretary.

This video is about unpaid leave:

Form for receiving a question, write yours

The Village, with the help of experts, continues to find answers to operational questions. This time we learned about the best way to ask your boss for time off if you need to resolve a personal issue during working hours.

Albert Mitsevich

Head of the Human Resources Department at MFC "Chestnoe Slovo"

With a standard work schedule - five days a week from morning to evening - some personal matters simply cannot be resolved outside of working hours: visits to official authorities, visits to the doctor, parent-teacher meetings at school cannot be postponed until the weekend. The need to leave work periodically arises for every employee; this is a normal everyday situation.

But you shouldn’t leave your workplace without permission, hoping that your boss won’t notice your absence. In order not to spoil your reputation and not provoke conflicts, explain to your boss why you need to leave right now. Your boss is a person just like you, with similar needs. Tell the truth without trying to sugarcoat the situation, and you are more likely to get his support. At the same time, it is important not to turn rare departures into a system so that work discipline does not suffer. Then you won't have any problems.

If the volume of your workload does not allow you to safely leave for personal matters, offer your boss to work out your absence on weekends or stay after the end of the working day. An alternative option may be to work from home if you need to look after a sick relative or supervise the work of a plumber. Remember that the manager is responsible for the results of his department, so offer a solution to the problem that is acceptable to both you and the company.

By showing responsibility and a desire to compensate for your absence from the workplace with good results, you will not look like a slacker and will maintain good relations with your superiors.

Irina Baeva

Managing Director of Regus in Russia

If an employee needs to leave work for personal reasons, you should not confront the manager with the phrase “I need to leave.” It is advisable to talk to your employer in advance about the need to take time off from work. If such a need arises regularly, it is worth discussing with the employer the possibility of a flexible schedule, provided that work efficiency is maintained. It is quite common practice for an employee to work outside the office one or two days a week. The arguments can be supported by numbers: 43% of office workers believe that the vacancy offered to them should include the opportunity to work outside the office. These are the results of the Regus study, in which more than 600 office workers in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg took part. Representatives of many professions can work outside their office no less effectively than while at their main workplace.

Explain to the employer that if you leave the office during working hours, you will definitely do the work at another time: working at home or staying late at work on other days. Make sure your manager knows what you've achieved while working remotely. You shouldn’t hide from your employer that you highly appreciate his willingness to accommodate you in terms of a flexible schedule or the opportunity to work outside the office for some time. Much depends on the corporate culture in each specific company, but the general rule is this: if the manager is confident that the employee is responsible for the assigned tasks and that the work will not suffer due to his personal affairs, it will be much easier for him to agree on such a request.

Maxim Sundalov

Head of the online English school EnglishDom

Don’t be afraid to ask for time off, because unforeseen situations can happen to anyone, and the manager must understand this. To make the reason to leave early convincing in his eyes, before the conversation, put yourself in the boss’s shoes. He is responsible for ensuring that the company operates efficiently and without interruptions, and makes a profit, through which employees are paid. Therefore, it is better to prepare in advance and do everything so that your unplanned absence does not harm your work. Ideally, complete some of your tasks in advance.

And the conversation itself should also be done in advance. After all, if you didn’t show up and called after the start of the working day to say that you won’t be there today because you need to fill out some documents, this is not only a sign of disrespect, but also an unpleasant surprise for colleagues who will have to carry out your tasks. If you ask for time off a few days in advance, everything can be planned in advance.

In unforeseen situations, for example, if the temperature has risen sharply or the neighbors are flooded, of course, there are no other options, all that remains is to simply warn by phone.

Be clear and direct about the reason you need to leave. I believe that it is better to always tell the truth and not invent non-existent diseases. This way you can lose trust, because sooner or later the secret becomes clear. It is advisable to not only do some of the work, but also plan when you can do the rest. And be ready to replace colleagues who cover you in your absence. And of course, you shouldn’t abuse it and only ask for time off for a really good reason.

Olga Kuzmina

Director of the personnel company ManpowerGroup Russia & CIS

There can be many reasons for being late or taking time off, but any manager will eventually get tired of all this. The best option, which will not irritate management and colleagues on whom your business will fall, is to plan an additional day off in advance. This can be done by claiming the day as paid vacation or vacation at your own expense. Is it possible to plan ahead? Yes, it is partially possible to predict the days on which you need to be away from work. For example, if you want to go to a holiday party with your child on September 1 or you need to help organize your mother’s anniversary, then it is better to arrange such predictable days not on the last day. Some employees expect that if they ask for time off the day before, they will be allowed to be absent and will be counted as a working day. And this raises doubts. After all, even if you have such a good relationship with your manager that he lets you go, he himself may have problems submitting a report card with your hours of work if your early departure or absence was noticed by the HR department.

It may happen that a person woke up in the morning and simply did not want to go to work, called and said that he was not feeling well. If this happens once, then the manager can meet halfway and offer to stay at home. But when this is repeated quite often, regularly between the May holidays or on the working day of December 31, then, of course, this raises doubts and forms a negative attitude towards the employee, even if he then pays for these days at his own expense.

Sometimes a day is needed for a good reason, such as when someone close to you is hospitalized or dies.

Unforeseen situations happen, and everyone should understand this. If an employee does not abuse time off and tries to plan them, then even in the event of a sudden need, the manager will not mind, and there is no need to come up with any tricks for this.