Please Help! Issues with previous employer!

katcox

Hi everyone. Hope you're ok.

I'm looking for some advice with an issue with my previous employer. I have already been to cab and acas who state I will need to go to an employment tribunal. Which I cannot afford which you will see why below...

So I was with this company for 1.5 years. I was signed off sick in March for four weeks due to anxiety and depression caused by the workplace. I vowed to never return, so once the four weeks sick were up I handed in my notice (which was four weeks). When I handed it in to my manager, I stated that I wished for the notice period to be taken as holiday which was honoured.

When I got home I emailed the contact centre manager to make sure this agreement was ok, he stated it world be. Now when I received my final pay cheque from this company, it was very very low. I queried it and was told that for the notice period I had been paid SSP rather than holiday as I had not acrured enough holiday as the new holiday year had only just rolled over. Now, I understand this but why haven't I been paid basic rate? And can they pay me SSP for this period, as I didn't have a doctors note? I have telephoned asked emailed then but I am not getting anywhere.

Your help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

sangie595

katcox wrote: »

I understand this but why haven't I been paid basic rate? And can they pay me SSP for this period, as I didn't have a doctors note? I have telephoned asked emailed then but I am not getting anywhere.

Why do you expect to be paid holiday pay ("basic pay") when you understand that you didn't have that much holiday due? If you did not attend work for four weeks during your notice period, when you didn't have four weeks holiday pay due, then you are quite lucky the employer chose to pay you SSP because they didn't actually have to pay you anything at all for that period. Since the employer pays SSP, then if they chose to pay you sick pay then that is their choice, whether or not you provided a fit note.

katcox

Why was it agreed though if it cannot be honoured? The two managers agreed to pay holiday pay and agreed I didn't have to come in. I've heard of payment in lieu of notice or garden leave is this not applicable?

gettingtheresometime

I have to agree with the previous posters comment.

Whilst I can see that it is frustrating for to be told one thing and then another happens, if you didn't have the holiday to take then you surely can't be expected to be paid for it.

Perhaps paying you the SSP rate was a compromise on their part when realistically they didn't have to pay you anything.

As for being paid on garden leave /payment in lieu of notice that's usually when you don't physically work your notice at the request of the employer which wouldn't be applicable in this case

shortcrust

What exactly does the email say from the manager? If it explicitly says you'll be paid for those weeks and you don't need to come in then I don't see why you can't hold them to it.

sangie595

katcox wrote: »

Why was it agreed though if it cannot be honoured? The two managers agreed to pay holiday pay and agreed I didn't have to come in. I've heard of payment in lieu of notice or garden leave is this not applicable?

There is such a thing as unpaid holiday. At what point did they agree that you would receive paid holiday even though you had no holiday pay due? As far as I can see from you first post they said you could take holiday - they didn't say they would pay it though, and they didn't say that they would pay holiday that you hadn't accrued. You asked to leave, and effectively you asked to leave with immediate effect because you had no intention of returning to work. Fair enough - but I think they have been generous in paying you at all. You didn't have holiday due, and you didn't submit a fit note either - so legally you weren't entitled to be paid. You maybe can't afford a tribunal claim - on the other hand you may be throwing away money making one because I very much doubt that a tribunal would support you unless you can evidence that they actually said that you could take paid holiday in excess of what was due to you.

Mistral001

When you realised that there were not enough holidays, did you contact anybody in the firm again to discuss your options? If you didn't, as far as I can see, that would mean that you absented yourself from work during the notice period. That would be a breach of contract and means that you would not get paid for the time you were absent. They gave you sick pay probably because they thought you should have something, but in law I do not think they had to do that since your sick leave was over.

pinkshoes

When was the holiday year rolled over?

The people who agreed it were no doubt assuming that you had enough holiday to take. It was up to YOU to calculate this before making the request.

You are very lucky to get SSP instead of unpaid leave.

I would just be grateful that did pay you SSP, and make sure they pay you for the actual unused holiday that you were due.

katcox

Holiday rolled over in April. Kind of shot myself in the foot as I can't find the email confirming it would be ok.

sangie595

katcox wrote: »

Holiday rolled over in April. Kind of shot myself in the foot as I can't find the email confirming it would be ok.

I think you are slightly missing the point. Even if you find the e-mail, unless it states that you can take this period as paid holiday, then you aren't entitled to payment for anything over and above any paid holiday entitlement you have accrued. The employer is able to grant your request to take a period of holiday without agreeing that they will pay for that period, and it is highly unlikely that any employer is going to agree to allow notice to be paid holiday to which you are not entitled because that creates an awful precedent for the entire of the rest of their employees, who may demand the same treatment when they leave.