Final pay query

S-Log

Hi Folks,

First time poster long time lurker here.

I've just left my job and received my outstanding holiday pay. However, after a perusal of the breakdown I noticed my daily rate for the outstanding holidays seemed low. I did some sums and it was about £25 shy.

My contract is a funny one. I'm contracted to work 220 days a year and I'm paid monthly in equal amounts. Some months are manic and I'll barely get a day off and some are quiet and I barely work but by the end of the year I've worked 220 days.

Getting back to my daily rate for my outstanding leave. They'd worked my daily rate out at £salary divided by 260 days (basically office hour days) I queried them as my rate should surely be £salary divided by 220 days. They told me that this is how they've always worked our daily rate out. So my rate is lower because of the 40 extra days they've added.

Is this legal? Seems a bit odd to me.

Any advice would be great.

Undervalued

You statutory holiday entitlement of 28 days per year (pro rata as you are less than full time) is protected by law.

Any holiday you get over and above the statutory minimum is subject to whatever terms and conditions the firm has specified in your contract. So yes (subject to doing the sums carefully) it may be lawful.

S-Log

Thanks, my leave is about 20 days. We do 220 days a year because the days are pretty much never less than 10 hours long. But like I say, my logic dictates that my daily rate is Salary/220. The 260 day thing just seems like pulling figures out of the air

lincroft1710

Can't see anything wrong in this.

Your employer has done the calculation 52 weeks multiplied by 5 (working days per week) = 260 days. So your daily rate is 1/260th of the full time salary, but as you only work 220 days, your annual salary is adjusted to 220/260ths of the full time annual salary.

maisie_cat

Are you saying that they have taken 1/260th as a day rate using your actual salary or salary upon which it is pro rated? If the salary for the job is £26000 a year your salary will be £22000. In both cases the day rate is £100. What the payroll department may have done is use 22000/260 giving a day rate of £84 which is clearly wrong.
Get them to show you the calculation because it sounds wrong to me, if there are relatively few part timers they won't understand why they do, just that they do it that way, very worrying but then payroll staff make mistakes like that all the time.
I used to manage payroll and staff always seemed to struggle with starters & leavers part month to the extent that I checked every one for correctness, saved hassle in the long term