Holiday pay

hardworkingorhardlyworking

Hi all,

Hoping for some advice on the subject please - I've asked ACAS but they couldn't answer it please. I will explain the situation.

I have been from late August 2019 until present. During that time, I've never received a contract or signed any document in relation to my employment to the company. I was taken on to do 24 hours per week and asked to up my hours in early Jan 2020, which the company agreed and said I could do full time hours of 36 hours per week. In February 2020 I told my employer I was looking to relocate to give them ample notice to find a replacement for me and get them trained etc, which they did. Recently I was discussing contracted hours and was told that mine was 12. When I questioned this, they said that they only gave me more hours in January and didn't up my contract (I don't actually have one). They said that since they took somebody else on that they have halved my contract and I'm only entitled to 12 hours (from March 2020 but said until then I was on 24) when I thought I was now on 36 hours. Does this sound right and are they allowed to do this?

My issue is that I know the company's holiday calendar runs from Jan-December every year. It is a new company and they had been opening the building in early October and as a result, me and no one else took holiday. I have been asking about this for months and that I would rather be paid for this but have never gotten a response and it has fell on deaf ears. Does anyone have any idea of my rights in this situation and will I be entitled to be paid or have I lost the hours?

Many thanks

General_Grant

hardworkingorhardlyworking said:

Hi all,

Hoping for some advice on the subject please - I've asked ACAS but they couldn't answer it please. I will explain the situation.

(2) I have been from late August 2019 until present. During that time, (1) I've never received a contract or signed any document in relation to my employment to the company. I was taken on to do 24 hours per week and asked to up my hours in early Jan 2020, which the company agreed and (3) said I could do full time hours of 36 hours per week. In February 2020 I told my employer I was looking to relocate to give them ample notice to find a replacement for me and get them trained etc, which they did. Recently I was discussing contracted hours and (4) was told that mine was 12. When I questioned this, they said that they only gave me more hours in January and didn't up my contract (5) (I don't actually have one). They said that since they took somebody else on that they have halved my contract and I'm only entitled to 12 hours (from March 2020 but said until then I was on 24) when I thought I was now on 36 hours. Does this sound right and are they allowed to do this?

My issue is that (6) I know the company's holiday calendar runs from Jan-December every year. It is a new company and they had been opening the building in early October and as a result, me and no one else took holiday. I have been asking about this for months and that I would rather be paid for this but have never gotten a response and it has fell on deaf ears. Does anyone have any idea of my rights in this situation and (7) will I be entitled to be paid or have I lost the hours?

Many thanks

(1)  There is no requirement for an employment contract to be signed by anyone.  However, you were legally entitled to a written statement of the terms of your employment which should have included information about hours and holidays.
(2)  Did you take any holiday in 2019?  Did you have time off over Christmas or the August bank holiday? 
(3)  Was that just orally said or written?
(4)  So that was the first time they had said you weren't working 24 or 36?
(5)  You do have an employment contract - perhaps it just isn't in writing.
(6)  If you didn't receive written information about your employment, how do you know the company's holiday year runs January to December? 
(7)  When do you intend leaving this employment?

hardworkingorhardlyworking

(1) Thanks!
(2) None at all - we were extremely busy with the pre-opening work before October and we have a very small team. The building is staffed 24/7 and I had to work Christmas Day.
(3) It was just orally over the phone. I have a message where they said they were working out the details but nothing concrete which indicates the increase - apart from the staffing schedules where I did full time hours.
(4) Yeah. This conversation was roughly early March 2020 whereby they said that I was on a 12 hour contract now, not a 24 or 36. They said it had always been 24 and due to recruiting someone to replace me, they took someone on a 12 hour contract and divided the hours between us until I left.
(5) They did give us one at one point but there was a mistake on it and said we would get new one's but never did.
(6) It was on the contract that had a mistake on but I never signed it.
(7) Probably in about 2 months. I explained this and was completely transparent, I just wanted to give them ample time to recruit as with it being such a small team it would put them in a very difficult position otherwise.

General_Grant

I wonder if the contract told you what holiday you were entitled to.  The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks.  So that would be 5.6 x 24 hours = 134.4 hours in a full year and pro rata for the proportion of the year worked.  It could be rounded up but not rounded down to 134 hours even though normal rounding convention would do so.
If they hadn't told you that the holiday year was January to December then you would have had a personal holiday year starting on the first day of your employment in August.  

hardworkingorhardlyworking

From what I remember, I don't think it did! With not signing a contract, would this be classed as a personal holiday year? Thanks for your help!

Undervalued

hardworkingorhardlyworking said:

From what I remember, I don't think it did! With not signing a contract, would this be classed as a personal holiday year? Thanks for your help!

Just not signing an employment contract is virtually meaningless. By turning up, working and getting paid you are deemed to have accepted the contract unless you positively rejected it and were "working under protest".

As General_Grant said, by law you should have been give a statement of particulars of employment within two months. However the problem is there is noting you can do about that failing unless you were taking them to an employment tribunal for some other valid reason. If you were, you could add that failing to your claim and you might (it is no longer automatic) get some additional compensation. You cannot bring that claim on its own any so it is almost meaningless these days.