Employer paid me holiday pay, but I haven't accrued any holiday.

Anne1234_2

Hi,

I just wondered if anyone could advise; I started working for my employer a few weeks ago, I had some holiday days already booked which I told them about at my induction and got them approved. I was advised to submit a timesheet for my holiday hours, I wasn't sure why but did anyway.
I wasn't expecting to get paid for my holidays as to my knowledge I haven't accrued any holiday yet as I only just started.
I asked my line manager about this and she said I would be paid the holidays but if I left the job anytime soon I would owe this money to the company, as presumably due to the fact I haven't accrued the hours.

Is this usual practice? As I haven't experienced this before. I'm also looking to leave this job asap as they changed my working hours the day after I started, and these will come into place next month. So I'm not sure I want to owe them money......


Thanks

k3lvc

Simples - just bank the money and repay what you owe when you leave (which will be less than they've paid you as you'll have acrrued more holiday by then)

Undervalued

Anne1234 wrote: »

Hi,

I just wondered if anyone could advise; I started working for my employer a few weeks ago, I had some holiday days already booked which I told them about at my induction and got them approved. I was advised to submit a timesheet for my holiday hours, I wasn't sure why but did anyway.
I wasn't expecting to get paid for my holidays as to my knowledge I haven't accrued any holiday yet as I only just started.
I asked my line manager about this and she said I would be paid the holidays but if I left the job anytime soon I would owe this money to the company, as presumably due to the fact I haven't accrued the hours.

Is this usual practice? As I haven't experienced this before. I'm also looking to leave this job asap as they changed my working hours the day after I started, and these will come into place next month. So I'm not sure I want to owe them money......


Thanks

Well you will have accrued some, just over one day for each two weeks of work.

But yes, if they have chosen to pay you holiday not yet accrued and you were to leave before you had accrued enough, you would owe them some money which they would likely deduct from your final pay.

getmore4less

It is quite common for companies not to use accrual.

IN the first year of employment a company can use accrual methods but they don't have to.

For the purposes of paid holidays you accrue 1/12 of the full year allowance on the first of each calendar month so should pay at least that much if you take holidays.
In practice local policy can be anything they want as they get to say when holiday can be taken but if they let you take it then they should pay statutory accrual as a minimum.

On leaving the actual calculation of holidays for the part year employment is made and pay gets adjusted.

anamenottaken

I would say that it is quite common. For one thing it means, assuming you stay to the end of the holiday year, they haven't then allowed you more holiday than you would be entitled to in respect of the actual hours worked. That is, though the holiday was unpaid, you accrued holiday entitlement in relation to that period of your employment even though you did not work during the holiday.

Though it is lawful in the first year of employment to pay only for holiday as it accrues (from the start of a month), it is perfectly OK to pay for the holiday in anticipation of it being accrued.

TBagpuss

Its fairly common - as a previous poster says, put the money aside so you can pay it back (or manage with the reduced final pay) if you do leave before you have built up enough accrued holiday to cover it.

[Deleted User]

Anne1234 wrote: »

Hi,

Is this usual practice?

Company to company. Policy to policy. Just as someone's holiday leave months start and end can be different.

I sat down with the team leader and decided when best to take annual leave, around current rota (not fully accrued and as my current place works in hours) - I'd sooner that any day of the week, let the employer guide me as to when to have holiday and owe then it never get booked in or the disappointment of a decline.

I've worked at many companies where having goodness, annual leave during 'probation period' would just never happen. One amazing company thoughout the entire 9 months worked without a days holiday also ensured I was building a savings pot with HMRC when they carried on with the emergency tax throughout entire employment and a rebate landed almost as great as the average month's salary so I'd have been ok. One person in a different role they let have nearly to much time off and I think a meeting was set before leaving so they could have their mind put at ease, turned out they were on holiday more then they literally ever worked during their time with the company!

I'd sooner owe a company money. The never having the ability to a day off when faced with a rosta prepared a year in advance to prevent such is worse. If you are worried then ask for it as unpaid which again maybe an option open to you if rules allow.