October LSAT is on a weekday for EMEA region: what to tell my employer?

HopefullyHLS

I just received the email from LSAC that October LSAT for Europe will be on Thursday October 14.

My issue is that I will start working for a company in Europe on October 1, and the first six months will be on probation. I am kind of anxious to ask for a leave during the first two weeks of employment, and obviously (since it is a branch totally unrelated to law) I cannot tell them that I am writing the LSAT.

Legally, I am entitled to 2 weekdays of holiday per month. However, what should I tell them if they ask me (I think they will because, on exactly that day, there is a training for new employees, and they explicitly asked me last month if that day would work for me to do the training session)? If I say something like "an unexpected private matter", it might raise suspicions (and, legally, they can fire me at any time during the first six months)...

phosita_phoeatah

If I were you, I would consult a local labor attorney re: your rights. Yes, you are on probation, but labor protection in general is stronger in Europe (especially EU member states), and there may be benefits which an employer cannot take away from you, even if you are on probation. All of this is jurisdiction dependent (much like how numerous states in the U.S. are at-will employment states but a few are not, and those can lead to some stark differences).

Also, you should probably read into the fine details, specifically re: how do you accrue said 2 weekdays of holiday per month. Are the first two days accorded to you after the completion of the month, or does the accrual occur right off the bat (and occur on a pro rata basis)? Would you be considered to have worked enough hours to have earned one day (or even half-day) off by the 14th?

Now, arguendo, assume you were employed in an U.S. state where employment is at-will unless stated otherwise, but the other fact patterns remain the same (specifically, you have to take the test on a week day), this becomes an issue of compromise and risk tolerance. What is more important to you (job vs. taking the test)? Are you willing to risk being terminated on probation? It would appear you answered in the affirmative when asked whether you are available for training; to walk back on that later may be looked upon unfavorably. I have no idea what types of work experience you have, but many jobs will have questions that asks whether you have been terminated from a position in the past 5-7 years, and getting a termination notice may have negative consequences long down the road.

HopefullyHLS

@phosita_phoeatah said:
If I were you, I would consult a local labor attorney re: your rights. Yes, you are on probation, but labor protection in general is stronger in Europe (especially EU member states), and there may be benefits which an employer cannot take away from you, even if you are on probation. All of this is jurisdiction dependent (much like how numerous states in the U.S. are at-will employment states but a few are not, and those can lead to some stark differences).

Also, you should probably read into the fine details, specifically re: how do you accrue said 2 weekdays of holiday per month. Are the first two days accorded to you after the completion of the month, or does the accrual occur right off the bat (and occur on a pro rata basis)? Would you be considered to have worked enough hours to have earned one day (or even half-day) off by the 14th?

Now, arguendo, assume you were employed in an U.S. state where employment is at-will unless stated otherwise, but the other fact patterns remain the same (specifically, you have to take the test on a week day), this becomes an issue of compromise and risk tolerance. What is more important to you (job vs. taking the test)? Are you willing to risk being terminated on probation? It would appear you answered in the affirmative when asked whether you are available for training; to walk back on that later may be looked upon unfavorably. I have no idea what types of work experience you have, but many jobs will have questions that asks whether you have been terminated from a position in the past 5-7 years, and getting a termination notice may have negative consequences long down the road.

Thanks a lot for the response!

Yes, I checked and I would be eligible for these two days: the minimum working time for that month would be 35 hours (according to contract it is almost the amount of hours per week required), and the contract says that holidays are according to the respective act of the country I‘ll be working.

Yes, I did answer in the affirmative to the training, however this was over a month ago and I did not know the specific test date (I was hoping, based on past dates, that it would fall on a Saturday). Though, merely the fact that he bothered to ask whether the date would work for me (I haven‘t even started, and this would be my second week in the firm) is a hint that at least he considered the scenario that I could (in theory) take a holiday.

Job vs Test: well, hard to answer. Though, I took several months off after quitting my previous job precisely to study for the LSAT, so not taking the test would kind of nullify all the efforts I made (and the opportunity costs - I could have switched to my new job immediately).

You certainly have a point, though. That‘s why I am thinking about whether it is necessary to come up with a (admittedly untrue) reason why I want to take a holiday that exact day.

phosita_phoeatah

Few other items for thought. It sounds like you have an employment contract; carefully read through it to understand the grounds for termination during your probation period (e.g. termination for performance and ethical reasons only, and not a carte blanche).

Next, though it is true that your supervisor contemplated that you may not be available in middle of October (when the inquiry was made a month ago), the facts on the ground have changed since then, specifically caused by you answering his inquiry the affirmative. It would not be reasonable to expect him to be as agnostic toward it the way he was a month ago (your answer rendered moot the applicability of his previous disposition toward how you would answer the question of availability).

If you do decide to take the day off, it would be better to inform earlier. Your training may entails coordinating the hours of another company employee (if not someone else from outside of the company). There is a difference between informing people 4 weeks in advance vs. 1 week in advance. This would especially the case for, say, training provided by someone from the outside, who allows for free rescheduling two weeks before an event but would not give a refund for rescheduling requests for events due to take place more immediately. Perhaps suggest an alternative time (preferably before the originally proposed date).

Also, your supervisor might not even care to know why you are taking the time off (and a simple "I would need some time off for personal matters" may suffice). I know that U.S. service sector jobs (and certain university research labs) have the reputation for supervisors who would purposely deny reasonable requests for person time (sometimes out of spite), but many others really couldn't care less why you are taking the time off, as long as you could take the time off. This is even more likely to be the case in a country where the work week is 35 hours.

Lastly, say in the unfortunate event that you were to inform prior to the start of your job, and your supervisor deemed it out-of-bounds that he wished to terminate your contract, I personally think that would not qualify as being terminated from a job. How can one be considered to be fired from a job, if one hasn't began working at said job? Then again, IANAL (this should be abundantly clear), and the above is merely for brainstorming. But I also have accumulated quite a bit of life experience, and one of my faults when presented with decisions is the tendency to view things as binaries, when in fact, things aren't as drastic as they originally appear.

Hope that helps, and good luck with the test and the job.

tahurrrrr

Frustrated international test taker solidarity

The previous comments seem to cover a lot thoroughly. So I'll just add (or further emphasize) that when you approach whoever you need to about taking the day off for the test, be sure to show that you're flexible and will make whatever accommodations are necessary to make up for your missed day ( within reason) and do it it as early as possible.

LizzyLawSchool

use a thermometer to measure your hair straightener and say you have a fever, or say you ate bad chipotle.... they wont want you coming in sick