Attendance pay

Mr_da

Hi I’ve a question regarding attendance pay, in the company I work for we have always had a £10 per week attendance bonus for not being off sick. Lately I have noticed that on a couple of occasions I have been £10 down without being off sick. I brought it to the attention of my immediate manager who has looked into it and come back to me saying it is because I have taken holidays.
This never used to happen because as far as I can see the attendance allowance was for attending when you are meant to. Also in the last month I have had to book two half days for funerals hence looosing £20 .
So I suppose the question I’m asking is is this legal? Thanks in advance.

theoretica

So they are offering an incentive to use your holiday in full weeks rather than a day or half day here and there?

nicechap

What does your contract's terms & conditions say?

It sounds more like a bonus or incentive than pay.

Mr_da

I wouldn't say so much an incentive as much as a way to decrease a payment which has been in place for atleast 19 years to my knowledge.

nicechap

Without sight of your contract's terms & conditions any advice on here is only speculation.

Mr_da

Thanks for the quick replies. The contract of employment says " any bonus paid to you is entirely discretionary and there is no contractual entitlement to receive it. The company reserves the right in its absolute discretion to terminate or amend any bonus scheme without notifying you"
So pretty much stuffed then. I just thought after reading something in the last couple of years about if you got regular overtime you should be paid it whilst on holiday. Thought this might have been in the same vein.

sangie595

Overtime is worked for - and that case is considerably more complicated than that. This is an allowance, and discretionary. So the rules are up too the employer - they can end it completely if they wish, at any time and without notice.

TELLIT01

The contract says it's a discretionary payment so, as the OP says, they are stuffed.
I know it's not the OP's fault, but it just seems ridiculous that any company needs to pay staff a bonus to ensure they turn up!

nicechap

You appear to be confusing 2 separate things.

Enforced overtime will count towards standard hours for calculation of holiday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29896810

Your attendance pay would appear to be a bonus (does it actually state in your contract what attendance pay is classed as?) and therefore can be amended from time to time as employer deems it needs to be. Your union would be able to advise & represent the staff if everyone objected to the change.

Many healthcare places which have high levels of sickness often make their bonuses only payable for no unexpected absences.

maninthestreet

£10 bonus for actually making it into work for a full week? Is this private company or the public sector?

comeandgo

We did that when we had a construction company. It was to encourage employees to arrive on a Monday on time and stay until 4.00 pm on Friday. This was more than twenty years ago when £10 was worth something.