Holiday entitlement

Dalkirst

Good evening. My partner works in a private care home. She asked for a weeks holiday fora week in feb(sons birthday 21st Feb so around that time) and at the time was told it would be ok. She never gave in a holiday form or anything. Now the manager is being awkward and saying she can't have any holidays as she can't have more than 3 people off at any time. She is still due 2 weeks holiday for the winter months which end at the end of March and now it seems she can't have anything at all. All they have told her is well we have 2 weeks in July/August you can have that will have to do so take them. That doesn't take away from the fact that she still hasn't had any winter holidays. She is always at work and never off sick and this is how they repay her.

Can you give me some advice please as what to do next. Obviously being a small privately owned home no one there is joined to a union so there is no one else to ask for advice and it seems that they can get away with treating staff like this for that reason.

Thanks for any help:)

pinkshoes

I don't think there is any entitlement to winter/summer holidays, so long as she gets the full entitlement within a 1 year period.

When did her holiday entitlement period start?

Dalkirst

Thanks for replying.There is at her place and always has been at the care homes she has worked at.They say she has to have say 3 weeks in the winter months(Sept to end of March?) and then 2 weeks in the summer as i suppose some people would just take 5 or 6 weeks off in the summer?

Not sure what you mean about her holiday entitlement period but she has worked there since June 08 and her last weeks holiday was end of October so is still due as i said above the 2 weeks(something like that anyway) to use up before the end of March.

Thanks

Lady007

Every employee is entitled to a minimum 28 days leave per year which can include bank holidays. If they have denied her this then they have operated illegally. Most company leave entitlements operate something along the lines of 1 jan to 31 Dec or 1 April to 31 March for example

anamenottaken

Dalkirst wrote: »

Not sure what you mean about her holiday entitlement period but she has worked there since June 08 and her last weeks holiday was end of October so is still due as i said above the 2 weeks(something like that anyway) to use up before the end of March.

Some organisations have a set holiday year which is applicable to all staff. Sometimes it is the calendar year, for some it runs 1 April to 31 March but it can run from any date. In that case, someone starting part way through this company holiday year receives their holiday entitlement on a pro rata basis. (Just as those who leave in a year do.)

For other organisations, all staff have individual holiday years, running from their actual start date. In this case there is no apportionment (until the employee leaves).

It sounds as though your partner's employer uses the same holiday year (1 April to 31 March) for everyone. Is that the case?

Any way, they can't deny her the right to take the statutory minimum amount of paid holiday.

Dalkirst

Yes that's correct their holiday year runs April to March and i think most care homes run like this.

Any advice what to do next?
Have to bear in mind though that she never speaks up for herself and would just accept it but i can try to change things by going on at her;)

Shall i give CAB a call in the morning or should she(if i can get her to but i doubt it) do that raising a grievence thing or write a letter saying she disputes it or something?

Thanks again

anamenottaken

Lady007 wrote: »

Every employee is entitled to a minimum 28 days leave per year which can include bank holidays. If they have denied her this then they have operated illegally. Most company leave entitlements operate something along the lines of 1 jan to 31 Dec or 1 April to 31 March for example

Just to clarify -

From 1 October 2009, the statutory minimum entitlement is 5.6 weeks a year. For someone working 5 or more days a week this equals 28 days a year. If an employer wants, they can say that bank holidays are included in the 28 days. (Care Homes may perhaps not say this because they need to have their establishments staffed every day of the year.)

For someone where the holiday year began before 1 October and who was not entitled to 5.6 weeks before that date, there will be a need to pro rate the additional entitlement for the months since the change.

anamenottaken

Dalkirst wrote: »

Yes that's correct their holiday year runs April to March and i think most care homes run like this.

Any advice what to do next?
Have to bear in mind though that she never speaks up for herself and would just accept it but i can try to change things by going on at her;)

Shall i give CAB a call in the morning or should she(if i can get her to but i doubt it) do that raising a grievence thing or write a letter saying she disputes it or something?

Thanks again

Without written confirmation that she received agreement to the holiday, it is not easy to pursue too strongly the request for the February holiday.
However, it is worth a try. She needs to find out what the grievance procedure is and have a look at the procedure for booking holidays.

As I said, they can't deny her the minimum statutory entitlement and the appropriate pro rata time needs to be taken before 31 March so she needs to get agreement as soon as possible. If she doesn't pursue the February week, then give notice now of her wish to take the holiday before 31 March and ask them to let her know when this would be convenient for them. (The employer has the right to say when holiday is taken but they have to allow the minimum to be taken.)

Dalkirst

Could i have some more advice on this matter please and what you all think:)

Partner finally decided to say well i'm not missing out on 13 days paid holiday so handed in a letter which i will put a copy of below.She came out upset as the manager called it threatening though it isn't in my opinion.She also said something about well is that your partner writing this out(i did but that's besides the point) and making you hand this in and say all this.Why she would say that i don't know and what it has to do with anything i don't know.She said she was going to call the area manager about it.
Here is a copy of what she handed in:

Dear , *******
As you are aware i am still due 13 days holiday for the year ending March 2010. I did ask for the week commencing 15/02/2010 to coincide with my son’s birthday and after you agreed to this i was told some weeks later when i asked to make sure this was still fine that you couldn’t authorise these days off for me any longer. I accepted this with good grace and would therefore like to now put in the remaining days i am owed before the end of March which amounts to 13 days for the dates of 19/03/2010 to 31/03/2010 inclusive of these dates.

I look forward to you getting back to me and thankyou for taking the time and trouble of reviewing this

Yours
****** ***


What do you all think as it makes me mad when someone acts like this.I really want to go down there and have it out with her as she brought me into it but partner won't let me and she also thinks now she has done it she will make her life a misery there:/

jdturk

its over the top if the company provide holiday forms, if they do why not fill one of those out, if they don't I can't see anything wrong with the letter

jdturk

Dalkirst wrote: »

What do you all think as it makes me mad when someone acts like this.I really want to go down there and have it out with her as she brought me into it but partner won't let me and she also thinks now she has done it she will make her life a misery there:/

Let your partner fight her own battles, you going in there will only make a mockery of the situation and ultimately make it worse