Holiday Pay - Help

Ms_Chocaholic

Hi

I'm posting this for a friend, I'll call them Sarah just for simplification.

Sarah works for a large company and, although she is employed (rather than self-employed), she manages her own diary so the number of hours she does every day can be very different.

If Sarah requests leave, the amount she is paid is based on an average of the number of shifts she has completed in the last 10 (I think it's 10) weeks, so say she requests a Monday, they will look at the last 10 Mondays to work that out and if the average is 6 hours they will pay her 6 hours holiday pay for that day.

That sounds okay, however there is a but ....

If Sarah requests a Monday off (I'm using Mondays for arguments sake) and in that previous 10 week period she has taken another Monday off for which she has been paid 6 hours holiday pay (see above), the company count that day as 0 hours so it reduces the amount of holiday pay being paid for the second Monday.

Sarah has tried to ask her company that the previous holiday Monday should be counted as 6 hours towards her new Monday holiday request but they're having none of it.

The company Sarah works for is a large company operating nationally and possibly internationally (I'll have to google that to check).

Does this make sense to you?

Please come back to me with any suggestions.

Thank you

Ms Choc

getmore4less

Difficult to see how that system is lawful but it is coming 2nd hand....

if that is the sytsem simple solution plan the holidays in advance and adjust the working days so the days that count get maxed out and other days of the week get reduced, they will soon catch on and fix the system.

Ms_Chocaholic

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately due to the line of work, it's difficult for Sarah to change days of work without penalising herself.

ETA: Sarah is in the Union, is this something she could speak to them about? She's tried resolving it at a local level in her place of work to no avail. Would the Union just offer advice or do something on her behalf? (sorry do not have much experience of Union activity myself).

agrinnall

I'd say the employer is wrong, although the unusual situation of variable hours might mean they simply don't have a process in place to deal with it and somebody has misunderstood how it should work. By all means she should speak to the union, but she needs to ensure they understand it before they approach the employer.

sangie595

This sounds completely unreliable as information. If she won't post here she needs to speak to her union.

ohreally

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

Would the Union just offer advice or do something on her behalf? (sorry do not have much experience of Union activity myself).

Either/ or, depends what she asks them for.

Ms_Chocaholic

Thank you.

Everyone below management level will work variable hours as it's a client focussed company, but Sarah has told me many times that other colleagues don't check their monthly pay slip so they're probably unaware. Sarah checks hers like a fine toothed comb.

Ms_Chocaholic

sangie595 wrote: »

This sounds completely unreliable as information. If she won't post here she needs to speak to her union.

It is very much reliable, other than the 10 weeks, which I'm fairly positive it is, could be 8 but I'm sure it's 10. I am posting on behalf of Sarah after many discussions with her about this issue.

Sangie - I would PM you further details to explain (that I don't want to post here as may identify Sarah) but there's not an option on your profile to PM.

getmore4less

Back to basics on this one.

How do they work out a holiday allowance and accrual?
days, weeks, hours etc.

depending on how that is done and allocated to the holiday pay it will be hard to tell if what they are doing is any where near reasonable.

Any other variables like rates of pay for different hours?

Ms_Chocaholic

Rates of pay for all hours completed are exactly the same.

In terms of holiday allowance/accrual - I will need to check on that and come back in the next few days.

Thanks for your reply.

Kim_kim

Does she work full time?
It’s possible under this system she would be paid less holiday than the legal minimum.
Is she salaried?
How many hours is she susposed to do per day or week or month or year?