can i reclaim 'lost' annual leave?

malibusami86

Basically, i started with my company Feb 2012. The contract that i signed was to work 9-5 tuesday and friday, with an hour paid lunch and 7 days annual leave. For various reasons, my hours and pay changed over 2012, i ended up working 9-3 tuesday and thursdays and not really having a break as there is nowhere to go other than my desk and according to the accountants spreadsheet of accrued hours, i actually accrued 11 days annual leave. The 4 days still owing to me equates to 2 weeks pay. I notified my employer of this when we were working out 2013 entitlement but never asked for the money. His financial situation has changed, and he has been very difficult about our working conditions and basically not allowing me to take this years annual leave to cover my pay when i am ill. this is a casual agreement we had and he retracted it without notice. When i approached him and questioned it, as i had been very kind about the '2012 lost annual leave' situation things have become difficult and he basically said you signed a contract that agreed to 7 days, tough you know what..... BUT i signed the contract when we both thought that 7 days was my entitlement, we didnt know it was 11 but i was only getting 7.... also, with the fact that my hours and pay are now different does that mean my contract is void? Does this mean i am entitled to what i have accrued? He has now advised me that he cannot afford to keep me here and has given me 4 weeks notice, but i can leave now if i like (financially beneficial for him). I am considering writing a letter to accept his verbal termination of my employment and that i would be happy to accept his 4 weeks notice period either including or plus the payment of the 4 days Annual Leave owing to me from 2012 accrued leave. (either i work 4 weeks and be paid for 6, or i work 2 weeks and be paid for 4) Am i within my rights to do this anyway?

LittleVoice

malibusami86 wrote: »

Basically, i started with my company Feb 2012. The contract that i signed was to work 9-5 tuesday and friday, with an hour paid lunch and 7 days annual leave. For various reasons, my hours and pay changed over 2012, i ended up working 9-3 tuesday and thursdays and not really having a break as there is nowhere to go other than my desk and according to the accountants spreadsheet of accrued hours, i actually accrued 11 days annual leave. The 4 days still owing to me equates to 2 weeks pay. I notified my employer of this when we were working out 2013 entitlement but never asked for the money. His financial situation has changed, and he has been very difficult about our working conditions and basically not allowing me to take this years annual leave to cover my pay when i am ill. this is a casual agreement we had and he retracted it without notice. When i approached him and questioned it, as i had been very kind about the '2012 lost annual leave' situation things have become difficult and he basically said you signed a contract that agreed to 7 days, tough you know what..... BUT i signed the contract when we both thought that 7 days was my entitlement, we didnt know it was 11 but i was only getting 7.... also, with the fact that my hours and pay are now different does that mean my contract is void? Does this mean i am entitled to what i have accrued? He has now advised me that he cannot afford to keep me here and has given me 4 weeks notice, but i can leave now if i like (financially beneficial for him). I am considering writing a letter to accept his verbal termination of my employment and that i would be happy to accept his 4 weeks notice period either including or plus the payment of the 4 days Annual Leave owing to me from 2012 accrued leave. (either i work 4 weeks and be paid for 6, or i work 2 weeks and be paid for 4) Am i within my rights to do this anyway?

I don't have time to give a full reply now but do not write to accept his having given you notice.

Check what the written particulars of your employment say about notice periods. Do they specify 4 weeks from either side?

You cannot require your employer to pay you for what may be an expired holiday entitlement.

What do your written particulars say about the holiday year start? Does it run from 1 Jauary, 1 April, 1 July, your start date?

malibusami86

it is a very small home ran company, his business consultant provided a template of a contract for him to create. it does not specifically anything about when the leave years begins or ends, just that my employment commenced on 7th feb 2012 and that i am entitled to 7 days per annum..... but this year my quota was much higher as my hours have changed and he was happy to work on an accrual basis rather than a set amount.
my hours, pay, duties and al entitlement have all changed since last feb.

malibusami86

there is no suggestion of a cut off point that annual leave may be taken by, and his accountant had been working out my al based on an accrual system. he only put 7 days in contract as his business consultant did, nothing to do with my entitlement. im pretty sure my contract is void as nothing is the same and he was happy with that until money was mentioned. thanks for your help