Help with employment rights

nolongerapushover

Hello, new person here. I was directed here by a friend and we got talking about our jobs now she says i'm being taken for a mug and I'm getting very confused trying to work everything out, the government doesn't make it very easy for non standard shift workers

I have written it out in a way that is easy for me to understand, simple minded soul that I am

I work 12 hour shifts

I work 9 day cycles

I work for 6 days 6am to 6pm on 3 off followed by 6 days 6pm to 6am on 3 days off etc.... This doesn't change

I work 243.3 days per year - sometimes im asked to work extra days on my days off

I'm off 121.6 days per year - I'm not including my holidays in this

I dont get bank holidays off but I get paid 2x for the shift

Calculations i've done

6+3 = 9
365/9 = 40.5 cycles through the year
40.5 * 3 = 121.6 days off per year
40.5 * 6 = 243.3 days on per year
243.3/2 = 121.65 days and 121.65 nights

Now that i've killed a few braincells(trying to understand all this, calculations done using calculator :j)

The help i'm looking for is

What is my holiday entitlement for the year and am I entitled to anything else from my employer?

I look forward to being able to help in other areas of the site, crafts etc

KiKi

What does your contract say about paid leave? (Include AL and BHs in this).

A 5 day a week full timer has 28 days paid leave a year (statutory entitlement). That's on the basis of 260 days. You work 243, so one could argue that pro rata that works out as 26.3 days paid leave a year holiday for you. That would be the statutory minimum you must get.

However, as it's a full time role with night work I *personally* would hope your employer offered you the full 28 just out of niceness!

But your employer may offer more than that, so it would be useful to know what your contract says.

FYI, you aren't entitled to BHs off, and if your employer *chooses* to pay you double time, that's up to them. But they still have to give you a day in lieu (part of the 26.3).

HTH
KiKi

nolongerapushover

KiKi wrote: »

What does your contract say about paid leave? (Include AL and BHs in this).

A 5 day a week full timer has 28 days paid leave a year (statutory entitlement). That's on the basis of 260 days. You work 243, so one could argue that pro rata that works out as 26.3 days paid leave a year holiday for you. That would be the statutory minimum you must get.

However, as it's a full time role with night work I *personally* would hope your employer offered you the full 28 just out of niceness!

But your employer may offer more than that, so it would be useful to know what your contract says.

FYI, you aren't entitled to BHs off, and if your employer *chooses* to pay you double time, that's up to them. But they still have to give you a day in lieu (part of the 26.3).

HTH
KiKi

Thanks for the quick reply and I see where the 26.3 days could come from and they say 26(what about the .3?) but I thought a full time week was 48 hours

They give us no more than 26 in total in the contract :mad:

243.3 / 52 = 4.67 days per week
4.67 x 12 = 56.04 hours per week

agrinnall

Your calculation should be reasonably straightforward as you work a fixed pattern (excluding any extra days for now). This is what DirectGov has to say about it (see http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/Timeoffandholidays/DG_10034642):

Shift workers

If you are a shift worker your leave is calculated by using an average of your shifts over a 12 week period.
For example, if you always work four 12 hour shifts, followed by four days off (the ‘continental’ shift pattern) then the average working week is three-and-a-half 12 hour shifts. You would be entitled to 19.6 shifts of 12 hours as annual leave a year:
5.6 weeks x 3.5 shifts = 19.6 12 hour shifts

Obviously your shift pattern is different to this, you work 6 out of 9 days so your average working week is 4.67 shifts (2/3 of 7 days), multiplied by 5.6 weeks = 26.13 shifts to be taken as holiday. This assumes you get the standard holidays, if your contract says you get more then you just need to redo the calculation. It doesn't include any extra time that you work and I'm not sure of the best way to calculate the extra holiday for each extra shift, there may be a percentage method but hopefully someone else can advise on that.

KiKi

nolongerapushover wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply and I see where the 26.3 days could come from and they say 26(what about the .3?) but I thought a full time week was 48 hours

They give us no more than 26 in total in the contract :mad:

243.3 / 52 = 4.67 days per week
4.67 x 12 = 56.04 hours per week

It doesn't work on hours, I'm afraid, unless you work irregular hours.

Here's an example (as I appreciate it's not always easy to get your head around): someone working 5 days a week, 10 hours a day gets 28 days leave a year; someone else working 5 days a week, 1 hour a day, also gets 28 days leave a year

This is because when the first person takes a 'day' off, they get 10 hours paid for, and off work. The second person gets a 'day', but it's only worth an hour.

ETA - but I see someone has a specific answer with regards to shift work so even better than my estimation! Looks like you're okay with regards to holiday, then.

HTH
KiKi

agrinnall

Just read your reply to Kiki, if they are giving you 26 that is presumably based on the shift pattern you are working, as the legal minimum for someone working a 'normal' week is 5.6 weeks. Don't worry about a full time week as there is no such thing (and if there was it wouldn't be 48 hours for the vast majority of people, thank goodness, most people work between 35 and 40 hours). You should really also get the .13 (by my calculation) or .3 (by Kiki's) as a shorter shift but it may not be worth the bother to ask for it.

KiKi

agrinnall wrote: »

Just read your reply to Kiki, if they are giving you 26 that is presumably based on the shift pattern you are working, as the legal minimum for someone working a 'normal' week is 5.6 weeks. Don't worry about a full time week as there is no such thing (and if there was it wouldn't be 48 hours for the vast majority of people, thank goodness, most people work between 35 and 40 hours). You should really also get the .13 (by my calculation) or .3 (by Kiki's) as a shorter shift but it may not be worth the bother to ask for it.

Plus, OP gets double pay on BHs, so assuming your calculation's right (mine was an estimate), I wouldn't fight for the 0.13!

KiKi