Part time worker holiday entitlement

sweaty_betty

Hi there - I've always thought that part-time workers are entitled to the same annual leave/bank holidays/shutdown days as full time workers, but pro-rataed down according to the number of days they work, eg 4 day a week get 4/5 of the entitlement, etc.

Is it acceptable for an organisation to reduce part time workers holiday entitlement to less than pro-rataed full-timer's, but pay them for any bank holidays/shutdown days that fall on their days off?

I'd rather have the time off than the (taxable) cash, but I'm not sure if legally their plans are fair.

Tia

specialboy

No, you must be allowed to take a minimum of 5.6 week paid leave, if the bank holiday doesn't fall on your normal working day then it's not holiday.

Dustykitten

I too am looking into this before i sign my new contract. From what I have worked out so far you have to be given the prorata for BHs but can be expected to use these days out of your holiday allowance when they fall on the days you work. Minimum days holiday is prorata of 28.

Calculator on the gov website

Problem I am having is my working week will be 15 hours spread over 3 days of 5 hours. They are offering 14 days (5 of which fall on BHs and 2 for annual shut down) so only 7 which I can choose when to take (2 weeks and an odd day). This does not seem fair to me as for FT staff a day is 7 hours and for me 5 but it counts as 7.
FT staff get 5 weeks plus BHs.

General_Grant

Dustykitten wrote: »

I too am looking into this before i sign my new contract. From what I have worked out so far you have to be given the prorata for BHs but can be expected to use these days out of your holiday allowance when they fall on the days you work. Minimum days holiday is prorata of 28.

Calculator on the gov website

Problem I am having is my working week will be 15 hours spread over 3 days of 5 hours. They are offering 14 days (5 of which fall on BHs and 2 for annual shut down) so only 7 which I can choose when to take (2 weeks and an odd day). This does not seem fair to me as for FT staff a day is 7 hours and for me 5 but it counts as 7.
FT staff get 5 weeks plus BHs.

The offer is, of course, incorrect.

If FT (working 5 or more days a week) get 5 weeks plus BHs then they have an entitlement to 33 days. By law, part-timers cannot be treated less favourably than full-timers. Therefore your entitlement should be 19.8 days each of 5 hours (the .8 would be 4 hours if they choose not to round up to a whole day).

The fact that you would have to use a fair number of your days for BHs is obviously because of the particular days in the week that you work and those who don't normally work on Mondays "gain" flexibility in the same situation. However, as employers can say when exactly employees can take holiday, this is something which is perfectly legitimate.

Perhaps you could point out that the legislation is about weeks and your week is 15 hours long, not 35, and they would be paying you for 5 hours a day not 7. If they pay you for only 5 hours, they cannot take 7 hours off your entitlement.

specialboy

Dustykitten wrote: »

I too am looking into this before i sign my new contract. From what I have worked out so far you have to be given the prorata for BHs but can be expected to use these days out of your holiday allowance when they fall on the days you work. Minimum days holiday is prorata of 28.

Calculator on the gov website

Problem I am having is my working week will be 15 hours spread over 3 days of 5 hours. They are offering 14 days (5 of which fall on BHs and 2 for annual shut down) so only 7 which I can choose when to take (2 weeks and an odd day). This does not seem fair to me as for FT staff a day is 7 hours and for me 5 but it counts as 7.
FT staff get 5 weeks plus BHs.

If you work 3 days a weeks you are entitled to a minimum of 16.8 days holiday which can include the bank holidays if they fall on your day of work.

Dustykitten

Many thanks for confirming what I was thinking. As the 16.8 would be for 4 weeks plus BHs pro rata but FTs get 5 weeks plus BHs and I correct in thinking it should be 19.8 for me too?

They have said I can work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as my contracted days instead to avoid the BH Mondays but I would prefer Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

General_Grant

Dustykitten wrote: »

Many thanks for confirming what I was thinking. As the 16.8 would be for 4 weeks plus BHs pro rata but FTs get 5 weeks plus BHs and I correct in thinking it should be 19.8 for me too?

They have said I can wort Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday as my contracted days instead to avoid the BH Mondays but I would prefer Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

See my post (#4) which gives the 19.8 day entitlement rather than specialboy's (#5) which is only about the statutory minimum and not your own entitlement which is higher than that because of the requirement for not less favourable treatment for part-time workers.

Regarding the actual week days - would they be willing for you to occasionally work on a Thursday in a week with a Monday bank holiday? Or is your preference to not work Thursdays something which would be the case any way and override that possible flexibility?

Dustykitten

General_Grant wrote: »

See my post (#4) which gives the 19.8 day entitlement rather than specialboy's (#5) which is only about the statutory minimum and not your own entitlement which is higher than that because of the requirement for not less favourable treatment for part-time workers.

Regarding the actual week days - would they be willing for you to occasionally work on a Thursday in a week with a Monday bank holiday? Or is your preference to not work Thursdays something which would be the case any way and override that possible flexibility?

Thanks, I have not asked about working Thursday in Bank Holiday weeks, although as they nearly always fall in a school week and my youngest is at school still I would probably prefer to just be working the 2 days in the week and use the holiday. The not working Thursday is just a preference on the whole for other life commitments.

I am going to email them and would like to reference where I have found these details. Obviously I do not wish to point them to this thread, is there a link other than the gov site I quoted (which I could use but would need to add that it is based on the statutory minimum and not my entitlement as you highlighted above)?

Thanks again, I want to tread carefully but firmly as they say they consulted a 'HR specialist'.

jobbingmusician

Be very clear that you are discussing two different things here.

The first is about your holiday entitlement, and this has been spelt out clearly for you above.

The second is about when you take your holiday. The employer has the right to force you to take holiday at THEIR convenience. I think you are at risk of diluting your watertight case on entitlement by arguing the two cases in parallel. First sort out your entitlement, then come up with an arguement about why it is better for the EMPLOYER if you move your leave around and work Thursdays instead of Mondays. They really aren't that interested in why it is better for you!

General_Grant

jobbingmusician wrote: »

Be very clear that you are discussing two different things here.

The first is about your holiday entitlement, and this has been spelt out clearly for you above.

The second is about when you take your holiday. The employer has the right to force you to take holiday at THEIR convenience. I think you are at risk of diluting your watertight case on entitlement by arguing the two cases in parallel. First sort out your entitlement, then come up with an arguement about why it is better for the EMPLOYER if you move your leave around and work Thursdays instead of Mondays. They really aren't that interested in why it is better for you!

Actually the OP is not wanting to shunt working to a Thursday even in a Monday BH week so that isn't part of the argument.

t0rt0ise

You should be working your holiday entitlement out in hours rather than days. So you need to work out how many hours holiday full-time workers get and work it out pro rata from that.