Employer miscalculated holidays but encouraged us to use them before realising

Niniori

Hi, I've had a look around for an answer but can't find one that fits exactly to my current situation.

Basically, my employer uses an online system that automatically calculates your holiday and how much you have left. Im on a 24hr contract and I didnt use much of it in the first half of the year, then worked overtime a lot of the summer, so I had quite a bit left to use in the second half of the year.

My employer then started to encourage everyone to use up their holiday before the end of the year or we wouldnt get paid for it (we cant take holiday in December either because Christmas rush). Apparently the number on the online system was wrong, so they told us personally how much holiday we had left, and as they encouraged, I put all of my apparent remaining days in.

Only now, they have told me they miscalculated my holiday (again apparently) and gave me roughly 4/5 days extra, which I now owe them back. If I hadnt been pressed to use the holiday up I would have happily just been working the days I was off, but now Im forced to pay back the money (which is something just under £300) or owe them holiday in the new year, which as I wish to decrease my contract to 16 I think takes up most of it.

Do I have any ground to stand on in terms of what I owe them considering they led me to believe I comfortably had enough holiday to take? I know I should also keep track but after some managerial issues and having to work a lot of overtime I just believed I had earned holiday to take also. I dont mind having to owe a bit, I just think its unfair that they are the ones who've technically made 2 calculation mistakes and Im losing £300 I cant afford to lose - I wouldnt have taken paid holiday leave if I wasnt going to get paid.

Help ahah, this is an awful time to get this news!

getmore4less

Do your own calculations to check.

tacpot12

Unfortunately, you need some evidence if you are to challenge any deduction they make of the money you have been overpaid, so you don't really have an legal rights unless you have evidence that some of the extra days you took were actually days your were entitled to take.

You might ask that they deduce the money from your January payslips as it is not a good time to lose £300 at short notice, and I think anyone would understand this.

Start keeping your own records as the employer's systems and processes are not up to the job.

General_Grant

Niniori wrote: »

Hi, I've had a look around for an answer but can't find one that fits exactly to my current situation.

Basically, my employer uses an online system that automatically calculates your holiday and how much you have left. Im on a 24hr contract and I didnt use much of it in the first half of the year, then worked overtime a lot of the summer, so I had quite a bit left to use in the second half of the year.

My employer then started to encourage everyone to use up their holiday before the end of the year or we wouldnt get paid for it (we cant take holiday in December either because Christmas rush). Apparently the number on the online system was wrong, so they told us personally how much holiday we had left, and as they encouraged, I put all of my apparent remaining days in.

Only now, they have told me they miscalculated my holiday (again apparently) and gave me roughly 4/5 days extra, which I now owe them back. If I hadnt been pressed to use the holiday up I would have happily just been working the days I was off, but now Im forced to pay back the money (which is something just under £300) or owe them holiday in the new year, which as I wish to decrease my contract to 16 I think takes up most of it.

Do I have any ground to stand on in terms of what I owe them considering they led me to believe I comfortably had enough holiday to take? I know I should also keep track but after some managerial issues and having to work a lot of overtime I just believed I had earned holiday to take also. I dont mind having to owe a bit, I just think its unfair that they are the ones who've technically made 2 calculation mistakes and Im losing £300 I cant afford to lose - I wouldnt have taken paid holiday leave if I wasnt going to get paid.

Help ahah, this is an awful time to get this news!

You could perhaps try a combination of both.

But, if instead, you agree to let them claw back the time next year, if you wanted to take time off over what you will accrue, you could ask for this to be unpaid leave which would allow you to delay the deduction from your pay IYSWIM.

A slight cautionary comment - as they can't deny you statutory entitlement, they could decide not to allow the time clawback and instead want the 2019 overpayment from you.

Check the calculations.

theoretica

Instead of using next year's holiday to pay them back for this would it be an option to work the 4 or 5 days extra?

getmore4less

Unless you get enhanced holidays they cannot deduct from next year they still have to give you the statutory minimum.

prowla

Oooh, I can feel a 4-5 days illness coming on...

Niniori

Thanks for the replies!

It's a little complicated, I'm not sure how to work it out as my contract went up from an 8hr to 24hr sometime before the summer! Going back through my timecards now aha

Niniori

General_Grant wrote: »

You could perhaps try a combination of both.

But, if instead, you agree to let them claw back the time next year, if you wanted to take time off over what you will accrue, you could ask for this to be unpaid leave which would allow you to delay the deduction from your pay IYSWIM.

A slight cautionary comment - as they can't deny you statutory entitlement, they could decide not to allow the time clawback and instead want the 2019 overpayment from you.

Check the calculations.

I'm quite friendly with the owners so I have no doubt they'd be willing to arrange an easier way for me to cope with this, but just wanted to know if there was anyway to decrease the actual amount aha.

I'm getting confused working it out as it is, but it's made all the more complicated by the fact my contract went from 8hrs to 24hrs in May, and yet from January until the start of October I was working an extra 8-16 hours overtime every week and I'm not sure exactly how my employer works that out, whether it's included or not etc (I'm new at adulting and only just realising these are things I should be SO so aware of ahahaha)

Will be talking to them tomorrow, hopefully they can be understanding! Will ask them about some of your suggestions thanks!

getmore4less

As them how they calculate holidays quite possible they are still doing it wrong.

[Deleted User]

Could it be after even such a short time there your holiday allowance goes up.

I'll only have been with my company couple of months on standard holiday allowance but as of January 1st I'm then awarded to 5 weeks plus bank hols (though I think this is the one place I'll dread taking hols when it's not public hols as work carries on but being done on your behalf though there are also strict rules in place that you can only book up to so many months ahead and you aren't really so able to book next day kind of thing, so your company should have had a better angle on it.