Not being paid for holiday

CraftyTwinkle

Hi All,

I'm hoping for some help if possible.

My OH has gone back to work tonight (he works the night shift at a well known supermarket) after a week off on holiday.
He's been told that as the correct forms weren't filed and they could not contact him, that this week off will be treated as unpaid.

He says that he filled in the form given to him and gave it to his line manager, however it seems to have been lost on it's way to HR. He's pointed out that this isn't his fault but they are saying that they could not contact him and therefore he won't be paid. Now, my OH is not the most organised person in the world and often forgets to update his details at work, however only last week one of the managers was calling him on his mobile on his day off to find out another member of staff's telephone number so them claiming that they couldn't conatct him on his week off is a pile of cr*p in my opinion.

To my mind this is completely unfair, but I would like other people's opinions on whether it is legal for the company to do this. It will leave us short over £200 this month which we can't really afford to lose.

Many thanks for any advice you can offer.

Googlewhacker

CraftyTwinkle wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm hoping for some help if possible.

My OH has gone back to work tonight (he works the night shift at a well known supermarket) after a week off on holiday.
He's been told that as the correct forms weren't filed and they could not contact him, that this week off will be treated as unpaid.

He says that he filled in the form given to him and gave it to his line manager, however it seems to have been lost on it's way to HR. He's pointed out that this isn't his fault but they are saying that they could not contact him and therefore he won't be paid. Now, my OH is not the most organised person in the world and often forgets to update his details at work, however only last week one of the managers was calling him on his mobile on his day off to find out another member of staff's telephone number so them claiming that they couldn't conatct him on his week off is a pile of cr*p in my opinion.

To my mind this is completely unfair, but I would like other people's opinions on whether it is legal for the company to do this. It will leave us short over £200 this month which we can't really afford to lose.

Many thanks for any advice you can offer.

If it is as they say then it is legal and further more your husband could be disciplined for being AWOL.

However I suspect your husband is telling the truth and so what you need to do now is to start a grievance against not being paid and state what you have done to book Holiday (presuming that how he did it was the correct way).

Also note the time and day and who your husband spoke to on his time of to show that he was contactable in the grievance.

I think the best you can hope for if Payroll has been processed is for a interim loan of what you are missing and then for you to pay back the following month when the holiday pay goes through.

It maybe worth talking to ACAS

paulwf

We would really need to know more about the holiday procedure to give advice. At the supermarket i worked for we would hand the holiday form into our line manager then it would be authorised by the manager or HR and signed by them then put back into a folder where all the holiday forms are kept. Basically until the form is signed and returned to the folder it isn't authorised.

Presumably your supermarket also has some system for notifying staff when their holiday is authorised? What are the exact details of the procedure? I can't imagine just handing in the form is enough to book the holiday, there must be an authorisation process before it is granted?

Premier_2

CraftyTwinkle wrote: »

...He says that he filled in the form given to him and gave it to his line manager, however it seems to have been lost on it's way to HR....

Surely the line manager remembers whether or not he authorised one of his staff a holiday?

If so, get the line manager to speak with HR.

CraftyTwinkle

Thanks for all your replies - luckily the problem has been resolved now.

Googlewhacker - Thank you for your post, it would have been very helpful had the issue not already been sorted. However I think it would be a bit drastic to give him a disciplinary as it was on the schedule as holiday. Arguably you could discipline someone for taking a day off :rotfl:

Paulwf - You are quite correct, the official procedure is very similar to the one you have described except the staff hardly ever get the authorisation slip back. In all the years my OH has worked there, he has only had 1 back - and that was 2 weeks AFTER his holiday ended.

Premier - Yes the line manager does remember, it has also been written in the 'holiday diary' for at least 6 weeks. The argument from HR was that the form hadn't been submitted. I think what finally swung it was that OH shouldn't be penalised because someone else has lost the form (as noted above it is quite normal not to receive any notification back).

DVardysShadow

CraftyTwinkle wrote: »

Premier - Yes the line manager does remember, it has also been written in the 'holiday diary' for at least 6 weeks. The argument from HR was that the form hadn't been submitted. I think what finally swung it was that OH shouldn't be penalised because someone else has lost the form (as noted above it is quite normal not to receive any notification back).

And on such stupidities our careers dangle. All too believable unfortunately. Is he going to get his money on time?