Holiday accruals cancelled!!

k2012_2

Hi Everyone, Im a first time poster who would appreciate a bit of advice on an issue im currently having.

I have been working 8 months with a Public Sector Client on a temporary contract through a recruitment agency.
I accrue holidays at the rate of approx 4hours a week(im told by agency), anyways, I have only taken 1 day holiday in 8 months. When i called today to request a week off next month, to my horror i was told that my accruals had been cancelled as i had to take them before December 2011. The agency claim that this in the small print which i should have known!! Also my boss (public sector client) is on my side and feels that he paid the agency for my holidays and now they just kept it. As this recruitment agency is being paid by the public sector client for my services, this is tax payers money!! Can the recruitment agency get away with this??

Thank you for your time reading this.

SarEl

I am afraid that if it's in the small print, ie if that is the holiday year and it is stated, then yes they can. Use it or loose it. Sorry but if it was in your terms it's an unfortunate case of you should have read them.

marlot

I thought there was a minimum number of days which had to be taken under the WTD

k2012_2

Thankyou for your reply, i agree that i should have studied the terms and conditions more closley but surely the agency's ethics are called into question here. Can an agency just keep taxpayers money? The client is angry and is demanding a refund.

LittleVoice

marlot wrote: »

I thought there was a minimum number of days which had to be taken under the WTD

It is an entitlement which the employer cannot refuse to allow but that is not what has happened in the case of the OP.

They should have requested holiday - even the bank holidays would have been paid if requested.

k2012_2

Sorry , to clarify, when i refer to "Tax payers money" i mean money paid by the client to the recruitment agency from the Public sector purse for my services.

SarEl

Sorry - the client pays what they are contracted to. This is none of their business. The agency told you, in writing, the terms of your employment. You didn't read them. I really am sorry, but there's nothing to be done if the agency won't budge. Ethics and law are not the same thing. You were responsible for reading your terms - they didn't have to tell you to take your holiday.

paddedjohn

Regardless of where the funds come from to employ you you have lost your entitlement from last year as a new holiday year has begun. Its a case of use em or lose em so be careful this year.

getmore4less

Would the employer holiday year now be place under the new rules?
(might not help if it's the same)

Interesting that an agency can charge/deduct rolled up holiday pay.

Work with the employer to fix this, if you get on OK with them, and is seems you do.

LittleVoice

getmore4less wrote: »

Would the employer holiday year now be place under the new rules?
(might not help if it's the same)

Interesting that an agency can charge/deduct rolled up holiday pay.

Work with the employer to fix this, if you get on OK with them, and is seems you do.

A public sector employer is almost certainly going to offer directly employed staff more holiday than the statutory minimum. The OP should now be accruing holiday at an increased rate - about 15% (depending on the starting entitlement) rather than 12.07%.

It's not the holiday year of the client company but the holiday entitlement of its employees which is to be matched by the agency.

The terms the agency has with the employer is that the hourly charge rate includes holiday pay (as well as NI) and is likely to be a specified amount. They should have been negotiating for an increase with effect from Christmas 2011.

The line manager is unlikely to be able to apply much influence on the organisation's contractual relationship with the agency.