Holiday pay of £1 on leaving

ohdrar

Hi

I am looking to leave employment without having taken my holidays.

According to my contract:

"Payment for any accrued untaken holiday on termination of employment for whatever reason shall be limited to £1.00"

Does this mean that I will not get my accrued holiday pay if I resigned?
I checked the acas website and they said that the employer has to pay holiday on leaving - but I'm wondering if this is how they've got around it by "paying just £1'?

Thanks for any advice

Diamandis

They need to pay untaken statutory leave. You need to question this with them.

ohdrar

Diamandis wrote: »

They need to pay untaken statutory leave. You need to question this with them.

Hi Diamandis

To be honest this is what I though as well - doesn't sound right at all. When I left a previous job after being there a few months with no holiday all the holiday was paid in the final pay slip.

Will ask about it,

Thank you

prowla

Set your termination date to be the last day of holiday.

Undervalued

ohdrar wrote: »

Hi

I am looking to leave employment without having taken my holidays.

According to my contract:

"Payment for any accrued untaken holiday on termination of employment for whatever reason shall be limited to £1.00"

Does this mean that I will not get my accrued holiday pay if I resigned?
I checked the acas website and they said that the employer has to pay holiday on leaving - but I'm wondering if this is how they've got around it by "paying just £1'?

Thanks for any advice

It is unlawful for them not to pay for any untaken statutory holiday when an employee leaves.

However.....

They can insist you use up your holiday during your notice period.

Also, the clause you quote could be lawful in respect of any holiday entitlement over and above the statutory minimum of 28 days (for a normal full time job).

TELLIT01

ohdrar wrote: »

Hi

I am looking to leave employment without having taken my holidays.

According to my contract:

"Payment for any accrued untaken holiday on termination of employment for whatever reason shall be limited to £1.00"

When you hand in your notice your employer can insist that you use as much of your holiday entitlement as possible during the notice period. You cannot demand to continue working and then have the holiday pay when you leave.

Blatchford

TELLIT01 wrote: »

You cannot demand to continue working and then have the holiday pay when you leave.

You cannot demand it. But if the employer allows you to continue working without taking it during the notice period, statutory leave must be paid for. That is the law. Contractual leave is slightly different, in that the employer would need to refuse to allow you to take it during the notice period. If they refused to allow you the opportunity to take it, then that would be breach of contract if they then limited the holiday pay to £1.

There is, however, an obvious answer. Don't leave your employment without taking your holidays. Holidays are not a savings scheme.

Undervalued

Blatchford wrote: »

You cannot demand it. But if the employer allows you to continue working without taking it during the notice period, statutory leave must be paid for. That is the law. Contractual leave is slightly different, in that the employer would need to refuse to allow you to take it during the notice period. If they refused to allow you the opportunity to take it, then that would be breach of contract if they then limited the holiday pay to £1.

There is, however, an obvious answer. Don't leave your employment without taking your holidays. Holidays are not a savings scheme.

That would surely depend on the exact wording of the contract?

AFAIK it would be perfectly lawful to have pretty much any strange terms and conditions regarding holiday over and above statutory, including it being "discretionary" rather like most bonuses. As we know it is very common to lose any bonus that hasn't already been paid once you hand in your notice.

Blatchford

Undervalued wrote: »

That would surely depend on the exact wording of the contract?

AFAIK it would be perfectly lawful to have pretty much any strange terms and conditions regarding holiday over and above statutory, including it being "discretionary" rather like most bonuses. As we know it is very common to lose any bonus that hasn't already been paid once you hand in your notice.

I do not agree. If a contract says that you have XX days holiday entitlement that is a contractual term. It is implicit in contractual terms that they must be actionable. If an employee had a term of dsay 35 days, but the employer always refused to approve leave over 28 days, that would be a deliberate breach of contract as the entitlement in contract law still exists. The entitlemnt is, however, to the holiday, not to the pay. So the employer would have to allow the holiday to be taken, but does not have to pay for unusable holiday. If this were to become a court case the claim would be to compensation for breach of contract, not for holiday pay, and it would not be an employment tribunal jurisdiction.

nyermen

Bet it doesnt work both ways, ie. if you've taken too much pro-rate'd holiday...

Undervalued

Blatchford wrote: »

I do not agree. If a contract says that you have XX days holiday entitlement that is a contractual term. It is implicit in contractual terms that they must be actionable. If an employee had a term of dsay 35 days, but the employer always refused to approve leave over 28 days, that would be a deliberate breach of contract as the entitlement in contract law still exists. The entitlemnt is, however, to the holiday, not to the pay. So the employer would have to allow the holiday to be taken, but does not have to pay for unusable holiday. If this were to become a court case the claim would be to compensation for breach of contract, not for holiday pay, and it would not be an employment tribunal jurisdiction.

OK, we are going to have to agree to differ on this (unless we are misunderstanding what the other is saying).

I see no reason why additional holiday can't be "discretionary" in the say way that additional money (i.e a bonus) usually is.