Holidays- can my employer pay only for a part of my holiday period?

Izofog

Hello,
This is my first post on this forum. My situation is as follows:
I have been on my holidays from 10th of September till 4th of October (including both of those dates) which makes 25 days of holidays in total.
Because I work 5 days a week, I am entitled to have 28 days of my holidays.
According to my contract, my employer should pay me £67,30 per each day of holiday.
But yesterday, when I got my payslip, I had seen, that my employer didn't pay me for every of those 25 days, but only for 18 days.
To be more precise: I am paid four-weekly, they pay me for a period starting on Sunday, five weeks before payday and ending Saturday, a week before payday. I write about this, because, when I was on my holidays, I got the payslip on Friday 21st of September, with 6 days of my holidays used by the time (which was correct - the salary ranged period until Saturday, 15th of September, so the first six days of my holidays were included). Then, I got my next payslip yesterday, on 19th of October, where they paid me only for 12 days, which is incorrect, because it makes only 18 days of holidays (6+12) instead of full 25 days.

What I had learnt yesterday, was that one of my colleagues was in similar situation in July - he went for a holidays for 3 weeks, but he was paid for less days than he had taken in fact. What the manager told him, after his complaint was, that because he worked 5 days a week, so he was paid his holidays rate only for those days he usually works, not for the full week (excluding the days off).
I just wonder whether it is anyway legal.
When I take 25 days of holidays, I should be paid for each of those days, without exceptions, and no matter that within one week I normally have 2 days off (by the way - it is nowhere stated in my contract, both deducting presumable days off from my holiday period and the fact that i work 5 days a week - for example I could work 6 days as well, or any other amount).

What is more, I was on my holidays lat year, I was working in the same company, and all of my holiday days were paid - the only difference was, that I didn't take three weeks continuously, but e.g. 10 days in one month, 9 in another etc.
So, today I want to talk with my manager, but I'd like to know whether I have any strong argument to prove my rights.

If you can, please help me.

getmore4less

which 5 days do you work?

eg for a Mon-Friday person 10 Sept(Mon)-4th Oct(thurs) is 3 weeks 4 days

That would use (3*5+4=)19 days holiday.

You need to know your pay period to know which of those days fall into that period.

holidays are really in weeks and a weeks pay is 5 days not 7.

Statutory is 5.6 weeks or 28days for a 5day worker

if you insist on getting paid for 7 day weeks when on holiday you only get 4 weeks off.

Undervalued

Some employers have a rule whereby they will only pay you for holiday you have actually accrued. Yes, you are entitled to 28 days holiday per year but had you actually accrued 25 days holiday by the time you took it?

Also, have you taken no other holiday at all this year? What about bank holidays/ Unless youR contract says otherwise they count in the 28 day total. So if you have been off work on the 6 bank holidays but been paid for them that could be the reason.

Izofog

Thank You guys for answers.

which 5 days do you work?

Well, usually I have Tuesday and Wednesday off every week. This is not directly in my contract, just sort of agreement between my manager and me.

My pay periods were as follows:
25/08-15/09 and 16/09-13/10.
So for the first period I should have 6 days of holidays pay in my payslip (10/09-15/09, which was correct) and then the rest for another period (18 days, meanwhile i had only 12).

Yes, you are entitled to 28 days holiday per year but had you actually accrued 25 days holiday by the time you took it?

Yes, I had enough days to take my 25 days of holidays.

Also, have you taken no other holiday at all this year? What about bank holidays/ Unless youR contract says otherwise they count in the 28 day total. So if you have been off work on the 6 bank holidays but been paid for them that could be the reason.

No bank holidays or nothing else. We work every bank holidays, as it is pub/bar job, so we are open 365 days a year, excluding Christmas.

ViolaLass

10th Sept to 4 Oct inclusive covers 17 days that you would otherwise have worked. Those are the days you should have been paid for assuming you had accrued enough holiday.

theoretica

You take holidays on days you would normally work. So your employer seems to be right in what they have paid you. On the plus side, you will have more days than you thought left to take as holiday.

TELLIT01

The OP seems to be confusing calendar days and working days. As has been said, if working 5 days per week, only 18 or19 working days have passed so that is how many days holiday have been used.
The easiest way to check for any under / over payment is to compare the payslip which includes the holiday with one which just has basic weeks on it. If there is a difference take it up with the employer to get an explanation.

sangie595

Undervalued wrote: »

Some employers have a rule whereby they will only pay you for holiday you have actually accrued. Yes, you are entitled to 28 days holiday per year but had you actually accrued 25 days holiday by the time you took it?

Also, have you taken no other holiday at all this year? What about bank holidays/ Unless youR contract says otherwise they count in the 28 day total. So if you have been off work on the 6 bank holidays but been paid for them that could be the reason.

If employers have such a rule, after the first year of employment, that rule would be unlawful. They can only refuse to pay unaccrued holiday in the first year.

Undervalued

sangie595 wrote: »

If employers have such a rule, after the first year of employment, that rule would be unlawful. They can only refuse to pay unaccrued holiday in the first year.

Technically yes but it is a moot point as the employer can dictate when an employee can and cannot take their holiday.

So if they want to enforce the "unlawful rule" they can easily get round the issue and lawfully do so by insisting that the employee takes their holiday at times when they "just happen" to have enough days accrued! Obviously that wouldn't be the official reason but then they don't have to give a reason to refuse a holiday request!

Izofog

OK, I work 5 days a week as a matter of fact, but this amount of days is clarified nowhere in my contract. Actually, I work with hourly pay, and amount of hours may vary between weeks. So, in case of need I could do e.g. 37 or 47 hours weekly, in four, five or six days - i do not have fixed rota.
At the moment of taking my holidays i didn't have 28 days of holidays accrued, but it was 24 or 25, which was enough to cover the period when I wanted to go on my holidays. It is irrelevant, that I have to use all my holiday days before 1st of December, otherwise I would lose all of them.
Also, last year I was taking my holidays like 10 days in September, 9 in October and 9 in November and didn't have this sort of problem, that any day would be unpaid.

marliepanda

Izofog wrote: »

OK, I work 5 days a week as a matter of fact, but this amount of days is clarified nowhere in my contract. Actually, I work with hourly pay, and amount of hours may vary between weeks. So, in case of need I could do e.g. 37 or 47 hours weekly, in four, five or six days - i do not have fixed rota.
At the moment of taking my holidays i didn't have 28 days of holidays accrued, but it was 24 or 25, which was enough to cover the period when I wanted to go on my holidays. It is irrelevant, that I have to use all my holiday days before 1st of December, otherwise I would lose all of them.
Also, last year I was taking my holidays like 10 days in September, 9 in October and 9 in November and didn't have this sort of problem, that any day would be unpaid.

It’s not ‘unpaid’ any more than it would be in a normal week