calculation of annual leave by whole months only?

Hmaz_2

I'm having a few issues with my HR dpartment and my annual leave entitlement. I returned full time to work in September after a year's maternity leave and still haven't had a definative answer from them of how much leave I have to take. There calculations don't fit in with their maternity policy so I'm querying it with them at the moment but now have another issue.

I'm going part time on the 12th December and they are saying that I will only accrue annual leave at a full time rate until the end of November as they can only calculate it for whole months. It means that Dec annual leave won't be truely representative of the hours I'll have worked. It works out at 1/2 day less entitlement than I should really have.

To me this seems like I'm essentially being penalised for going part time and that they are reducing my annual leave entitlement which I would have thought could be illegal.

Does anyone know whether this is standard practice to only work in whole months and if they are well within their rights to do this? I know it's only a half day difference but I resent working for free as I'm not exactly appreciated there since returning from mat leave!

Thanks

paddedjohn

You earn holiday for every hour worked so they are talking rubbish.
1, when does the leave year start/end
2, have you had any leave so far this year?
3, how many days do you normally get?

Are they reducing the amount from entitlement over and above the legal minimum? ie do you get more than 5.6 weeks normally?

browneyedbazzi

I expect they can do it - I work in local government and was recently on a 12 month fixed term contract. Because I didn't work 12 full calendar months, even though I worked more than 12 months (25-10-2010 to 30-10-2011), I had 2.5 days of annual leave deducted from my entitlement.

Some employers spend all their time looking for ways to screw their employees.

Hmaz_2

paddedjohn wrote: »

You earn holiday for every hour worked so they are talking rubbish.
1, when does the leave year start/end
2, have you had any leave so far this year?
3, how many days do you normally get?

I also assummed you earnt leave based on exactly the hours you'd worked. Everywhere else I've ever worked has calcualted leave entitlement based on exact number of days worked.

1. My leave year runs 1st April-31st March
2. I've taken 36 days leave so far (loads I know as I accured 35 days whilst on maternity leave and then an "unknown" number of days between return on 5th September and going part time on 12th December!)
3. I normally get 26 days leave each year (plus the bank holidays on top)

paddedjohn

5th sept - 12th dec = 14 weeks, this equates to 7.5 days at the very least, you say you get 26/days/year is that bankholidays on top ie 34 days?

if its 34 days then from april 1st to dec 12th = 23.5 days

zzzLazyDaisy

Hmaz wrote: »

3. I normally get 26 days leave each year (plus the bank holidays on top)

Thereby lies your 'problem'.

Your minimum statutory entitlement is 28 days holiday a year, including bank holidays.

You get 26 days plus bank holidays which equates to 34 days' leave.

The extra days are contractual and can be allocated / calculated as the employer dictates, although how that is done should be clearly set out in the employment handbook (or more probably these days on some intranet page).

You might also want to consider how many holidays you accrued while on maternity leave. I could be wrong but from what you say it sounds like you were given more than the basic statutory minimum, which is all the law requires.

If so, then maybe it is a case of swings and roundabouts?

Hmaz_2

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

Thereby lies your 'problem'.

Your minimum statutory entitlement is 28 days holiday a year, including bank holidays.

You get 26 days plus bank holidays which equates to 34 days' leave.

The extra days are contractual and can be allocated / calculated as the employer dictates, although how that is done should be clearly set out in the employment handbook (or more probably these days on some intranet page).

You might also want to consider how many holidays you accrued while on maternity leave. I could be wrong but from what you say it sounds like you were given more than the basic statutory minimum, which is all the law requires.

If so, then maybe it is a case of swings and roundabouts?

I've been really lucky with the ammount of leave I accrued whilst on maternity leave, I'm not sure what the minimum legal requirments are but I got my usual leave + bank holidays. I'm just so frustrated with my HR department that no one can agree on how the leave is calculated/accrues and after being back for almost 3 months I still don't have a definative answer from them! I don't mind losing the 1/2 day leave if they're within their rights to do that, but resent it if it's not their standard practise. I just wanted to check if it's common for employers to calculate leave in this way.

Thanks for your answer, I'll have a quick look through my employment handbook

getmore4less

The problem probably is they have not kept up with changes in the legislation over the last few years so have a policy that is a bit of a mess.

Why not take some of the accrued holiday and go part time end of month make the problem go away

Hmaz_2

getmore4less wrote: »

The problem probably is they have not kept up with changes in the legislation over the last few years so have a policy that is a bit of a mess.

Why not take some of the accrued holiday and go part time end of month make the problem go away

I've been taking 3 days of accrued leave each week since returning from mat leave and won't have enough left to do this until the end Dec. It wouldn't be possible either to work a full week for the rest of Dec as I wouldn't be able to get childcare for my son arranged.

Googlewhacker

Hmaz wrote: »

I'm having a few issues with my HR dpartment and my annual leave entitlement. I returned full time to work in September after a year's maternity leave and still haven't had a definative answer from them of how much leave I have to take. There calculations don't fit in with their maternity policy so I'm querying it with them at the moment but now have another issue.

I'm going part time on the 12th December and they are saying that I will only accrue annual leave at a full time rate until the end of November as they can only calculate it for whole months. It means that Dec annual leave won't be truely representative of the hours I'll have worked. It works out at 1/2 day less entitlement than I should really have.

To me this seems like I'm essentially being penalised for going part time and that they are reducing my annual leave entitlement which I would have thought could be illegal.

Does anyone know whether this is standard practice to only work in whole months and if they are well within their rights to do this? I know it's only a half day difference but I resent working for free as I'm not exactly appreciated there since returning from mat leave!

Thanks

If you are not appreciated they wouldn't have allowed you to go part time, they would have easily come up with a business reason to stop you and to force your hand.

Legally, you are entitled to have the holiday calculated properly however you have to choose whether its a battle worth fighting (especially if you get more than statutory holiday pay anyway).