Maternity Leave and Holiday Entitlements

deltamoon

I wonder if someone could help me clarify my holiday entitlements while I am on maternity leave.

I currently work part-time (approx 16.5 hrs over 3 days) but am employed on a 0 hrs, term time only contract meaning I do not get paid during the school holidays and my employers are able to change my hours depending on circumstances (although this is usually only changes about once per year). My contract states that

"you will not normally be permitted to take paid holiday during term-time. Holiday payments will be made at the end of each of the three school terms, and will be based on your actual earnings in the preceding term. Your average weekly pay will be calculated by dividing your total pay for the term by the actual number of weeks in the term. Holiday pay will then be awarded according to the following schedule; Easter holidays - one and a half week's average pay, Summer holidays - one and a half weeks average pay, Christmas holidays - one and a half weeks average pay. You will not be paid for Bank Holidays, even if these fall on a day you would normally work, as these days and included in the calculation of holiday payments."

I am due to commence my maternity leave in a couple of weeks and am only entitled to SMP but have been told that as this will paid continuously, including throughout the school holidays, I will not be entitled to any holiday pay.Obviously if this is correct then that is fine but my employers have never had a pregnant employee before and so far things have not really been that well organised or communicated on their part so I would just like to make sure I will be getting what I am entitled to.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read and respond!

getmore4less

how many weeks do you work each term?
need to check the holidays are correct


not sure on the maternity would need research

deltamoon

Term length varies depending on where Easter falls and such like but there are 39 working weeks per year, the standard school term times.

getmore4less

You should be getting 4.71 weeks holiday they are only giving 4.5

5.6*(39/46.4) =4.7069

deltamoon

Thanks ever so much. I had a feeling that might be the case. Any idea on the maternity holiday pay though? I finish in 2 weeks with baby due in 3 so really need to get it sorted. Any idea where I might be able to find out?

getmore4less

You could try the redundancy forum, see other maternity/bonus post.

I would google(not had time myself) or some variation of this set of words

maternity variable hours holiday statutory employment act zero hours

not sure which employments act are the starting point for this entitlement

One thing with entitlements is that many seem to be based on a previous qualifying period where variable things like pay and hours are concerned so this may apply to maternity accrued holidays.

getmore4less

You may also need to check if this is a true zero hours or a contract for variable hours

Can you turn down offers to work?
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4469

Another thing

is SMP a entitlement due to employment rights that may mean there are holiday entitlements.
As I say not an area I have done a lot of research so guessing to direct some more research.