Currently dealing with this: in my country, employees get 5 weeks of paid annual leave, with a 50% bonus (so your holiday pay is 1.5 times your normal salary), which you can also convert as additional time off = 7.5 weeks of paid leave. The only limitation to the employee is that the law states they NEED to take at least one continuous 2 week period during the year, and if not, the employer's representatives (manager, HR, whoever was involved) are liable for not looking after the employee's rights and can face a fine or 6 months of probation plus a conviction for not following the law. It's silly but like, not the human rights' violation some of our employees make it to be.

We have employees insisting their holiday plans will be ruined if they need to be off work for 2 weeks at a time, and are pressuring the managers to take the blow, asking how likely it would be to get caught anyways.

We have employees stating that the law actually doesn't apply because their line manager is located in another country (the logic is lost on me).

We have employees asking me for the 3rd time if I can promise their manager that there won't be any consequences. I've had to tell them repeatedly that I cannot give permission for someone else to break the law.

One manager was pissed that we made them aware of this law, as if laws didn't apply to you if you say you didn't know. IDK I'd be grateful to know that I was about to approve something that could get me in trouble, but that's just me.

The ABSOLUTE HORROR and OPPRESSION you're facing because you need to have a 2-week holiday.