Holiday Pay Eligability

PurePixel

Hi,


I'm a student and left my job last week, I was working part-time at a bar. When I left the manager brushed off my request, so I'm planning on escalating it more formally, I am just looking for advice on what I'm entitled to.


I worked mid September 2017 to late April 2018 before leaving to go home for summer, I handed in my notice but made it clear I was returning after summer, was left on the books and didn't recieve a P45. I then returned and worked again from the end of September to the end of October before deciding to leave. Would I be entitled to holiday pay for the entire period I worked there or just the recent work?


Thanks

General_Grant

You would be entitled to holiday for all the time you worked there.
However, if you did not request to take paid leave during a holiday year, you are not entitled to back pay for it.
When does the organisations holiday year run from? Starts in January or April, for instance.

PurePixel

Thanks for the reply! This is where one of my issues lies, it is an independent business so to my knowledge doesn't have a formal holiday year. Due to the nature of employing many students and few permanent staff, they actively discourage holidays and only managers have taken paid holiday.

sangie595

In the absence of anything to the contrary in a contract, then your holiday year ran September 17 - August 18. So if you remained in employment then that holiday is gone, as you didn't try to take it. Your responsibility was to know that, I'm afraid.

That would mean that you are only owed from September this year.

On the basis of this being continual employment, I'm afraid that the previous advice was incorrect.

However, if this wasn't continuous employment, and you actually resigned and broke your continual service, then when you terminated your contract previously you would have been entitled to payment for holiday pay; and then again a further amount now for this recent employment.

However.... You've complicated it. You can't make the claim to an employment tribunal for the previous owed amount because you are out of time. So you would have to go through a small claim, which costs money. Unfortunately, if the employer argues back that the holiday was lost and there was no break in employment (effectively, that you resigned), this is likely to land it in the jurisdiction of an employment tribunal to determine - and you are too late to make that claim.

"Actively discouraging" holiday is meaningless. Can you prove that they refused holiday? Because you have some responsibility here. Employers are not responsible for making you take holiday, and it is up to you to book it or demand it.

Les79

sangie595 wrote: »

So you would have to go through a small claim, which costs money.

Just to add, it doesn't cost THAT MUCH money to initially submit a small claims case. I think around £25 currently. But there's a good chance that the company may refute it and you'll then need legal advice.


You could also approach a no win no fee solicitor and see if this is something they'd take on. It is unlikely that they will, as they typically go for almost clear-cut cases.

sangie595

Les79 wrote: »

Just to add, it doesn't cost THAT MUCH money to initially submit a small claims case. I think around £25 currently. But there's a good chance that the company may refute it and you'll then need legal advice.


You could also approach a no win no fee solicitor and see if this is something they'd take on. It is unlikely that they will, as they typically go for almost clear-cut cases.

No it doesn't cost that much. But the claim isn't that much either! And if the court refuses jurisdiction, then you have no hope of getting the money back. No win no fee will not touch anything like this - too low value. The costs they incur would be multiple times the claim. And they are unlikely to be able to add their costs in either jurisdiction so the OP would end up with the bill if they won!

paddedjohn

As sangie has pointed out, you have lost out on any entitlement up to the middle of September, all you are entitled to is anything accrued during October. How many hours did you work during this period?