Zero Hour Contracts & Holiday Pay

EchoGinger

I work for a LGA on three separate contracts, all within the same department, where I have worked for over 3 years. My first contract was a Zero Hours post. Under the terms of this contract, I have no fixed working hours or place of work, have no obligation to accept work, and (until April - more on this in a sec) no entitlement whatsoever to holiday pay OR paid holiday. I am, however, entitled to some expenses and mileage claims, and was enrolled on the LGPS.

I now have two more jobs in the department, all 3 running concurrently with each other. These two new contracts are permanent fixed-hour posts, guaranteed pro-rata holiday pay and LGPS contributions, though I'm not entitled to expenses or mileage claims. I should also point out that under the umbrella of my zero-hour post I have worked the same hours, on the same day, in the same office, doing the same work, for over 3 years.

Earlier this year an Employment Tribunal decreed that the LGA had wrongfully denied holiday pay to employees on zero-hour contracts, and that it must repay on a pro-rata basis to all eligible employees going back over a period of 7 years. However, it was decided that if an employee was working on two contracts, one of which was fixed-hours, they were not eligible for the repayment. The explanation from line managers is that we are expected to take holiday pay from the fixed-hour contract, and this replaces the requirement for pro-rata holiday pay on any hours undertaken on the zero-hour contract. Does this truly mean that an employee can have a 1 hour fixed-term contract, and work 40+ hours on a zero-hours, and get only holiday on the 1 hour?!

I hope someone can clarify this, as there still isn't much info out there on this subject, despite the news attention.
Many thanks.

zzzLazyDaisy

I don't understand this either. Did the tribunal decision say this, or is it a decision that management have come to since then?

tir21

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EchoGinger

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I don't understand this either. Did the tribunal decision say this, or is it a decision that management have come to since then?

The employees have not had any formal brief about the Tribunal, though we knew it was taking place and that a decision had been reached.

We have only had a letter stating that we may be entitled to this repayment, pro-rata over the period in which we were only employed on a zero-hour contract. The line managers are pretty clueless, and the explanation mine has given me (there is no explanation in the letter) seems pretty self-serving.

I haven't come across anyone else in this set of circumstances (apart from my colleagues, natch). It's pretty confusing to me!

LittleVoice

EchoGinger wrote: »

The employees have not had any formal brief about the Tribunal, though we knew it was taking place and that a decision had been reached.

We have only had a letter stating that we may be entitled to this repayment, pro-rata over the period in which we were only employed on a zero-hour contract. The line managers are pretty clueless, and the explanation mine has given me (there is no explanation in the letter) seems pretty self-serving.

I haven't come across anyone else in this set of circumstances (apart from my colleagues, natch). It's pretty confusing to me!

Can you say what the case was? Which LA?

zzzLazyDaisy

The employee(s) involved in the case will have a copy of the tribunal decision. Did the union represent them? In which case the union also have a copy.

Are you a member of the union?

I do not believe that the tribunal decision says anything like that as it makes no sense, but that is really the place to start.

getmore4less

i can see where they are coming from, they are probably thinking they can treat the zero hr like overtime.
Chances are this will end up back at an ET. To clarify

zzzLazyDaisy

getmore4less wrote: »

i can see where they are coming from, they are probably thinking they can treat the zero hr like overtime.
Chances are this will end up back at an ET. To clarify

If that's what they are thinking that's nonsense!

The zero hours contract is a totally separate contract. Holiday pay is calculated by taking the last 12 weeks actually worked and averaging the hours to find the 'weekly hours' for the purpose of calculating holiday pay.

Three different contracts each accrue holiday pay separately. To suggest that because someone is entitled to paid holidays accrued under contract 'a' means that they are not entitled to accrue holidays under contract 'b' is absurd.

EchoGinger

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

The employee(s) involved in the case will have a copy of the tribunal decision. Did the union represent them? In which case the union also have a copy.

Are you a member of the union?

I do not believe that the tribunal decision says anything like that as it makes no sense, but that is really the place to start.

The employee who started the tribunal is still with the LGA, I will try to track her down and see what really happened. I don't know if they are unionised, personally I'm not. I have seen recently that there will now be charges to bring any matter to a tribunal, so if I do decide to bring a case, I guess I'll have to stump up or join one of the unions.

So far, my HR officer has put through a claim for me based on the 14 months I was only employed on a zero-hours contract (totalling £1200). There are 24 other months I should be able to claim for though - the expense will be what is putting off the LGA, no doubt about it! I shudder to think what some employees would be entitled to under the 7-year ruling.

Thank you all for your replies, I'm glad it's not just me that thinks this whole thing is fishy.

zzzLazyDaisy

Try and track her down and get a copy of the tribunal decision

If you cannot resolve this amicably, then yes, if you go to tribunal, you will have to pay a fee - but having been trounced once in tribunal they are unlikely to want to have another pasting so there is a good possibility that they will settle, in which case you will claim your fee back as part of the settlement.

But before you get that far, if you can't resolve this informally, I suggest that you start a formal grievance - this will push the matter further up the food chain and hopefully onto the desk of a manager who has some common sense!