Agency worker - questions about holidays

johnskyb

Hi guys, hope someone can help

I have been working for an agency in the same place since September last year. I didn't use any of my holidays last year but apparently they run from January to January so I lose them. I'm ok with this, don't think there's anything I can do about it. It's probably in the small print somewhere even though I wasn't explicitly informed.

Anyway, onto the main question. I have used 3 days holiday this year (since January). I haven't even booked any bank holidays off (they have been unpaid) as I have a 2 week holiday coming up shortly so I wanted to make sure I'd be paid for it. I have been contacting them for 3 weeks every other day asking how many holidays I have accrued. They kept telling me they'd call back but never did.

Today I finally got an answer. They tell me I have accrued 8.5 and have used 3, leaving me 5 days! It's mid July and I've only accrued 8.5 days??? Surely this must be wrong. I have sent them a strongly worded email and currently await a reply. I have had the odd day off here and there so haven't been accruing every single day but I'd say I've still worked probably an average of around 37 hours a week all year.

Can anyone tell me if there's anything I can do about this. I'm on holiday from Friday and I can't afford not to be paid!

xtina87

When i worked for an agency i think they worked the holidays out by how many hours you did, they told me that worked out about half a day a week or something. You will have to ask them how yours are worked out.
I do agree that Agencys do not tell you everything when you first join up though.

allan2006

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/index.htm

holiday entitlement is now 28days .
Im sure this applies to agency staff too.
but remember after being paid for the 8 bank holidays that leaves you 4 weeks a year.

have they paid u new years day, easter fr& mon etc or have u not worked the full hours/days each week. each of these thing could affect how much they are offering.

johnskyb

I have not been paid any bank holidays whatsoever.

I have probably missed 1 day once every two weeks for various things. I'm sure this doesn't equate to losing almost half of my holidays you say I would be entitled to if I worked the full 40 hours does it?

What do I do if they refuse to budge?

LittleVoice

johnskyb wrote: »

I have not been paid any bank holidays whatsoever.

I have probably missed 1 day once every two weeks for various things. I'm sure this doesn't equate to losing almost half of my holidays you say I would be entitled to if I worked the full 40 hours does it?

What do I do if they refuse to budge?

I would expect you would have accrued 12 days on the hours you suggest.

Ask them for their precise calculations, not just the "answer" to the question of what total holiday have I accrued.

For a temporary worker, it is probably based on a percentage of the hours worked - and that changed in April when the statutory minimum was raised to 28 days (for a full-time worker).

LittleVoice

allan2006 wrote: »

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/index.htm

holiday entitlement is now 28days .
Im sure this applies to agency staff too.
but remember after being paid for the 8 bank holidays that leaves you 4 weeks a year.

have they paid u new years day, easter fr& mon etc or have u not worked the full hours/days each week. each of these thing could affect how much they are offering.

The increase to make it 28 days was from 1 April. For the first quarter of the year it was 24 days.

New Year's Day would not have been paid as there was no work time to have accrued time for it.

Usually temp workers have to request payment for their bank holidays, it is not automatically paid. This may be because the worker may prefer to save the time when they would otherwise have no income for a week.