Holiday Pay (Have not received any)

surfer9

I work a casual office job. I do not have a contract. I have worked there for over 3 years. I am not sure this job is regarded as a 'zero hours contract'. Yes I don't have a contract, but for 95% of the year there is always work available and I am needed. I tend to work 5 hour days - 5 days a week.

Due to stuff in the news about Uber and Holiday Pay etc - I decided to check if I am actually entitled to Holiday Pay. I had never thought about it before. I guess I assumed as there was no contract - then I wasn't entitled to it....

But googling about it - it seems I should be receiving it. I went onto the citizens advice website and read about it.

My questions:

1. Could you guys confirm that I should be getting Holiday Pay.

2. The amount of holiday pay you get is determined by the days/hours you work. Would working 5 hour days, 5 days a week, be enough to qualify me for the full 28 days paid holiday a year?

3. I have not been paid any Holiday Pay for the 3 years I have worked at the company. As they have failed to pay it. Would I be able to recoup all/any of this money? I believe I have missed out on between £3000 - £ 4000 in Holiday Pay over the time i have worked there.

4. Does anyone know how long this Holiday Pay law/regulation been in place? Has it been around for years?

Also: The company I work for is pretty small. Approx 6 of us in the office at a time. No HR apartment. We always joke about contacting HR when we need them - but it basically doesn't exist. As far as I'm aware one of the managers will deal with HR related issues. So I guess I'll have to go to them about trying to get this fixed.

Thanks for your help.

paddyrg

The easy way to calculate holiday pay is hourly at 12.08%, and it's not supposed to be 'included' in your hourly rate, or at the very least broken out and top of minimum wage.

But you don't need my advice, you need to visit the CAB.

robatwork

You do have a contract - it just isn't formalised or written. It would help you enormously if you get it written as it should be - ask on Monday. If they are shady be prepared to lose your job.

1. Yes, you should be getting holiday pay. Ask on Monday. See above re job.

patman99

You state you have never had a contract. Well, your employer has a time limit (I believe it is 3 weeks) to issue you with one. If they do not, then you are deemed to be working under what the Govt. describes as a 'standard contract of employment' which sets-out you rights as an employee as to holiday pay etc.

As such, you should have been paid holiday at the accrued rate of 12.07% of your weekly worked hours (basiccally, you are entitled to 12.07 paid holiday hours for every 100 hours you work).

In your case, if you work 5 hours per day for 5 days per week, you would accrue 3.01 hours holiday pay each week. This equates to 144.84 holiday hours each year (or, 18 days paid) based on 48 weeks worked. This would be on top of any bank holidays (if you are contracted to work them).

144.84 hours @ £7.20 (min. wage) = £1,042.85 before stoppages each year. So you are correct in thinking you are owed £3,000 in un-paid holiday pay.

I suggest you take this up with the manager and if they refuse point-blank to pay you what you are owed, be prepare to start Court action to get it back (although I would wait until I got another job first as you may well find yourself un-employed if your boss takes umbrage at your attempts to get what you are owed).

Sharon87

You only receive money from holiday pay when either you request a holiday (say a week off) then that is week is paid as per normal. Or you leave the job and any remaining holidays in that year that you haven't taken off are paid.

Usually holiday pay resets every year (date depends on employer).

So you may have missed out on the previous years. Why have you not thought about it until now? Have you ever taken time off for a holiday? Did you request a holiday? Were you paid for the time taken off?

As a staff member (albeit on 0 hours contract) you are still entitled to take paid holidays off, but you aren't entitled to the money if you don't take the time off. Only when you leave the company and any accrued holidays are owed to you. I work short term contracts and often don't use my holidays but they are paid at the end of my contract, but when I've been a permanent staff member I had use the holidays or lose them.

ohreally

patman99 wrote: »

You state you have never had a contract. Well, your employer has a time limit (I believe it is 3 weeks) to issue you with one.

Not quite...

An employer must give employees a ‘written statement of employment particulars’ if their employment contract lasts at least a month or more. This isn’t an employment contract but will include the main conditions of employment.

The employer must provide the written statement within 2 months of the start of employment.

sangie595

Sharon87 raises a good point. Have you been refused paid holiday. Because if you don't take your holiday, that is your problem. Employers are not required to force you to take leave. I might wonder why you haven't been asked about when you plan to take holiday, but the fact remains that it is up to you to ask for it! Have you done so? Have you had unpaid bank holidays? How would you show that the employer failed to pay holidays, as opposed to you having not taken them?

surfer9

sangie595 wrote: »

Sharon87 raises a good point. Have you been refused paid holiday. Because if you don't take your holiday, that is your problem. Employers are not required to force you to take leave. I might wonder why you haven't been asked about when you plan to take holiday, but the fact remains that it is up to you to ask for it! Have you done so? Have you had unpaid bank holidays? How would you show that the employer failed to pay holidays, as opposed to you having not taken them?

I have taken 'holidays'. I have on many occasions throughout my employment said things like...."I will be off for a week in 2 weeks time, or I will not be in on Monday as I'm having some time off, or going away".

I just naively never knew I should be getting paid for this. And I don't think anyone else that has ever worked there has ever questioned it either. We don't work bank holidays and we don't get paid for them.

Maybe now is the time to question it. Though I feel somewhat unsure about doing so. Even though this is something I am entitled to. I don't know what the reaction will be. I think the guys in the office (the management) will understand, but the owner - he probably won't be too please about now having to pay myself and 4 - 5 other employees these extra thousands per year. I never see the owner, he's never around......

We do get something called 'comfort pay', which is an extra 30mins to 1 hour extra pay depending on how many hours we work in one day. The more hours we do, the more 'comfort pay' we get. This is just an incentive for people to stay longer seeing as you can come and go as you please. Why am I bringing this up?........

I guess that if the owner of the company is !!!!ed that he now has to pay us for Holiday Pay.....he may just cut of even scrap giving us this 'Comfort Pay'.

They may even claim that the 'comfort pay' is 'in effect holiday pay'. But it doesn't work like that as you have to work at least 5 hours in a day to get any comfort pay.

How would you go about getting this holiday pay?

I plan to be polite and just question my manager about it - asking simply 'Do we get Holiday Pay', see what he says and go from there. If he says no - I will be like 'we are entitled to it', we should be getting paid it'. It will be pretty casual. Everyone at work is laid back and there are only 5 or 6 of us.

I will likely see what my manager thinks and see what his views on it are, and see if he will pursue it with the owner who I believe deals with payroll. I will see what they come back with.


1. Do you guys think I should request being back-paid Holiday Pay? I am not completely clear, but from something I read on one particular website - I think you can claim up to 2 years in arrears.

2. Should I even mention it, should I just forget about pursuing any Holiday Pay?

The worry is the reaction they will have to it. There are so many outcomes:

- They could be totally fine and pay up everything even in arrears.

- They may just start paying me from the start of this year, but then do I pursue them through an Employment Tribunal for the rest......likely leading them to let me go.

-They could just end up offering to pay me for any future holidays I take.

- They may refuse to pay anything and may even let me go there and then. But if they did that I'd definitely pursue them for as many years Holiday Pay as I can.


Maybe it is too early to think about pursuing them for as many years as I can until I have spoken to them. But just incase it comes to that - what would I need to produce to prove to a tribunal that I have not been paid for any holidays taken? I believe I have a lot of payslips, but not every single one. Would my company have to provide the payslips anyway? The payslips show hours worked, hourly rate, and pay. Not sure this would be enough. Is Holiday Pay supposed to be distinguished somewhere on a payslip?


Thanks.

theoretica

surfer9 wrote: »

How would you go about getting this holiday pay?

I plan to be polite and just question my manager about it - asking simply 'Do we get Holiday Pay', see what he says and go from there. If he says no - I will be like 'we are entitled to it', we should be getting paid it'. It will be pretty casual. Everyone at work is laid back and there are only 5 or 6 of us..

I would start as you did here - All this news about Uber drivers made me check and I think I should be entitled to holiday pay too. Could you check up on this?

If you ask the question and he says no then you are in the position of trying to prove him wrong, which noone likes. Let him go and research for himself rather than putting him on the spot.

sangie595

I'd also recommend sticking to the polite approach. You have correctly worked out that there may be a sudden requirement for cuts in pay, hours, or jobs, in the near future - and that may be a bigger loss than any back pay for you, depending on your circumstances - do you need the job and is other employment easy to obtain?

Kim_kim

Are they paying you as much as or more than minimum wage + 12..08%?

Because it would be lawful for them to pay you like that.