Holiday Pay after leaving a job

hawkis

Hello All,
Tried to Google this one without success.
My daughter recently resigned from McDonald's to start a new job. She still hasn't received her holiday pay owed and I was wondering if there is any maximum timescale after someone has finished by when they should receive this holiday pay.
From her side she has done everything right.
She resigned on 11th July giving the two weeks notice required and her last day was 25th July.
She called last them last Thursday (the usual pay day, she was paid weekly) to be told that she'd still not been processed/terminated.
This morning she called again and was told that she will receive the holiday pay next Thursday, 18th August as she was only terminated today.
This seems a very long time considering she gave notice on 11th July and her last working day was 25th July. Surely her employment should have been terminated on 25th July, and if she was in fact not terminated until today, she would be entitled to more holiday pay?

Anyway, thanks in advance. McDonalds have been next to useless in all aspects for the time she worked there and this just tops it off really.

Jarndyce

I think you are confusing her last day of employment (25 July) with the date that process her termination, ie when they run their monthly payroll.

Presumably she missed the July payroll run by leaving so late in the month, so it will be processed and she will get the money in August instead.

Seems reasonable to me.

hawkis

She was paid weekly, plus they said her employment was only terminated today, hence why she won't be paid until next Thursday.
Nothing to do with a monthly payroll in this case.

Jarndyce

hawkis wrote: »

She was paid weekly, plus they said her employment was only terminated today, hence why she won't be paid until next Thursday.
Nothing to do with a monthly payroll in this case.

You are getting wound up with terminology here and missing the point. I was suggesting that perhaps they only process terminations on a monthly basis, regardless of how frequently she was paid. Either way, if they've said she is going to be paid this month, I think that is reasonable, as it would be if someone who WAS paid monthly left at the end of a month.

The fact is that whatever the semantics, her last day of employment was 25 July - that is the day her employment actually terminated - and she is not entitled to any holiday pay for the period since then.

hawkis

I think then she needs find out exactly what it all means then. This could go on indefinitely otherwise if they haven't done as they've said today.
Thanks for the comments.

Peanutmac30

Is it possible that she is paid in arrears? In my company our weekly payroll is paid in arrears so if she left us on 25th she would be paid on 5th Aug for work carried out on 25th July. Our procedure is that she would receive outstanding holiday pay on this date too and then get her P45, but Macdonalds may have another policy on holiday pay - it is possible that they pay this after her final wage has been processed. I do agree that it does seem like a long time though. I would give them another call and find out what their explanation is. Unless there is some sort of problem (i.e. she owes them money) it is illegal for them to withold her final pay or holiday pay.

hawkis

She has spoken to a couple of people who worked for them and they did receive theirs on the usual pay day for weekly pay.
So under normal circumstances it would seem that she should have received it on 4th of August.
She is entitled to it as her pay slips detail up to date holiday entitlement. Her last pay slip had those details on them.
Obviously if there is no time restriction on when they have to pay it by, then there isn't a lot she can do.
I just have a horrible feeling that she won't get the money next Thursday as she was already told last week that she would be terminated last week. Obviously that didn't happen based on her telephone conversation with them this morning.
What I don't fully understand is if her last working day was 25th July, why are they saying her employment hasn't been terminated until today?

Jarndyce

hawkis wrote: »

What I don't fully understand is if her last working day was 25th July, why are they saying her employment hasn't been terminated until today?

Because what they mean by termninated and what you mean by terminated are two different things!!

What they mean by terminated is 'they have not processed her termination of employment which happened on July 25th".

Peanutmac30

Yes, Jarndyce is right - if she had left our company on 25th July, we would not process her termination of employment until Friday 5th August. I'm not sure why it is taking them so long though, sounds more like they are running things on a 2-weekly basis from the dates you have given. As long as the end date on her P45 is correct it doesn't matter when they process her termination.

A strongly worded phone call may be advisable to find out why they seem to be witholding the pay. They should pay you within the timescale of their usual payrun, so if it isn't sorted by the end of the week I would seek advice from CAB or ACAS.

Uncertain

To answer the time-scale question.......

If need be she has three months less one day from leaving to lodge an employment tribunal claim should they fail to pay.

If they fail to pay on the next normal payday I would write a polite but firm letter asking for payment within two weeks.

Should this fail send a recorded delivery "letter before action" demanding payment within seven days otherwise you will take legal action without further notice.

Do not run out of time or be strung along with vague assurances. It costs nothing to file an ET claim online and it can always be withdrawn.

hawkis

Ok, so things are a bit clearer now.
Basically, my main concern is that she doesn't get the money because she has none at all.
I think it is worth contacting them again to ask what the official procedure is. They almost certainly won't know and will either have to refer us to someone they don't want her talking to about it, or make sure it is sorted.