Annual Leave

winegums

I've started a new job on job-share. I work 15 hours per week 6 hours Monday, Tuesday and 3 hours Wednesday morning. My jobshare does 3 hours Wednesday afternoon, 6 hours Thursdays and Fridays.

We have both started at the same time and work the same amount of hours per week.

Our contracts both state that we are entitled to 20 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays pro-rata. It then says annual leave is calculated in hours which are inclusive of bank holidays and we are both entitled to 84 hours per year but as the bank holidays are mandatory, if either of us normally works on a day on which a bank holiday falls, then we must set aside enough hours from our leave entitlement to cover those days.

As I work the first half of the week, I have calculated that I am due to work on 8 bank holidays at 6 hours per day = 48 hours, which only gives me 36 hours to take leave when I choose. My job share on the other hand only has to set aside 6 hours for Good Friday and has 78 hours to take when she chooses.

I thought it should be 4 weeks x 15 hours = 60 to take when I choose plus the bank holidays but my job share says thats not fair because then I'd have more annual leave overall than her.

It seems unfair to me. Would I be right to complain? How do others work out annual leave entitlement.

Thanks

KiKi

No, it's not unfair.

You are entitled to 28 days pro rata, and your employer can dictate when you take your holiday. In this case, they are demand BH non-working. You've still both got exactly the same holiday entitlement, it's just that you have more restrictions on the days you can work or not. You're still being paid for those days.

I'm sure that seems harsh, but as your employer can tell you when to take any of your holiday anyway, I don't think you have any recourse to complain. Of the 7 BHs that fall on your time, at least 3 I'm sure you'd want to have off anyway (NYD, Christmas Day, Boxing Day). This is unfortunately what happens when you work part-time and job-share - but your overall days off are the same, and it's absolutely legal.

KiKi

tizerbelle

You both work the same hours per week and you are both getting the statutory minimum of 5.6 weeks annual leave (84 hours). So there is no unfairness there.

There is no automatic right to not have to work bank holidays. You are not getting any less holidays than your job-share partner, you just have less flexibility in when you can take the time off because your employer is dictating that you use annual leave for bank holidays - they are allowed to do this.

You may consider it unfair but you will find it is the most common (and fairest) way to manage holidays for part-timers.

Complaining about it will not change it. It's just the way it is for part-timers who work at the start of the week.

Simon11

Might not work if you have child care arranged ect, however

Why not ask your other job sharer if they could swap shifts for when bank holiday occurs? so that you both get half/half with bank holidays. So you work the end of the week shifts while the other does the first half. Then you both have fairness with restrictions in bank holidays annual leaves.

Emmzi

it's totally legal and totally fair.

winegums

Ok

So I suppose I just got the short end of the straw! and there's nothing I can do about the annual leave.

One other thing though, we work for a baseline rate of £8.00 per hour but if we meet certain targets it increases to £9 per hour and if we exceed set targets it goes up to £10 per hour, so as you can imagine, the pay does vary from week to week. The contract states that all holiday pay will be paid at the baseline rate. Someone said that its not right and should be at an average over a preceding period. Is that correct or is it at the discretion of the company?

hcb42

I would think it would be paid on base rate, as presumably if you are on holiday you are not achieving targets....

Savvy_Sue

winegums wrote: »

One other thing though, we work for a baseline rate of £8.00 per hour but if we meet certain targets it increases to £9 per hour and if we exceed set targets it goes up to £10 per hour, so as you can imagine, the pay does vary from week to week. The contract states that all holiday pay will be paid at the baseline rate. Someone said that its not right and should be at an average over a preceding period. Is that correct or is it at the discretion of the company?

Whoever said it's not right and should be paid at an average over a preceding period was confusing your situation with one where you work irregular hours.

If you work irregular hours, then your entitlement to holiday pay can be worked out on what you've earned in the previous 17 weeks (I think).

Holiday pay is usually worked out on base rate, not enhanced rates.

anamenottaken

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Whoever said it's not right and should be paid at an average over a preceding period was confusing your situation with one where you work irregular hours.

If you work irregular hours, then your entitlement to holiday pay can be worked out on what you've earned in the previous 17 weeks (I think).

Holiday pay is usually worked out on base rate, not enhanced rates.

It's twelve weeks. And any weeks where no pay is received is disregarded and earlier weeks are brought in until you reach 12.

agrinnall

You don't have to give up 8 days for bank holidays. There are 4 bank holidays fixed on Monday, 1 fixed on Friday and 3 that move each year so in any one year you may have to use between 4 and 7 days of your holiday. Your job sharer has to give up between 1 and 4 (with maybe an extra day for things like this year's royal wedding, depending on whether the company closes for the day or not). It might seem a little unfair but presumably you were involved in deciding which days to work.

anamenottaken

agrinnall wrote: »

You don't have to give up 8 days for bank holidays. There are 4 bank holidays fixed on Monday, 1 fixed on Friday and 3 that move each year so in any one year you may have to use between 4 and 7 days of your holiday. Your job sharer has to give up between 1 and 4 (with maybe an extra day for things like this year's royal wedding, depending on whether the company closes for the day or not). It might seem a little unfair but presumably you were involved in deciding which days to work.

This calendar year Good Friday is the only bank holiday which doesn't fall on one of the OP's normal work days. And there are nine bank holidays so 8 days are required for those days.