For hourlies in my store we can take vacation anytime we want... But management will limit it to 1 person in the entire store on the busy weeks like the pre Holidays weeks.... But we have to use all personal days by Dec 16th I think.... Well thats for my store...
I think it depends on your store and how flexible your manager is. We had to have vacation time and personal time used up by Nov. 1st. If you are a part of a small dept, then you might squeak by with a later vacation/personal holiday. From the way it works at my store, the managers can (and have) refuse time off due to the holidays and pay out your remaining time. Any time during week of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years is automatically refused. I'd put in ASAP.
At my store you can take your vacation any week you want. They can limit it to one person per department though. Personal days are supposed to be taken by November 1st, but there's always a few people from each department who wait to take theirs. As long as it doesn't cause a disruption it shouldn't matter.
