Furloughed and lost all holiday allowance / entitlement

Wifey101

Our company had furloughed everyone at the end of March and said we are to lose all our holiday entitlement.

We returned to work in June and although enough notice was given, is it OK for a company to insist that no-one takes even one day holiday for the rest of the year?

Has anyone else had their company use the corona virus lockdown to use up everyone's holiday allowance?

poppy12345

They must give you twice the amount of notice for holidays, so for every day they must give you 2 days notice. They must also pay you 100% of your wages. Once all your holidays are used any days you take will be unpaid leave.

Wifey101

Hello Poppy12345. They gave enough notice and 100%.
But instead of accepting their offer, could I have had the 80% furlough money while off and retained my holiday?

poppy12345

No, they have every right to dictate when to take your holidays, as they gave the correct notice and paid you what you were entitled to. It's a little late now to be asking as you've already taken the annual leave.

getmore4less

Have they claimed the furlough money and then said you are on holiday and topped that up?
I don't think that is part of the scheme.
in your position if that is what they have done I would check the scheme carefully and report them if they have cheated it.

Wifey101

Where do bank holidays fit in? There were 2 in April and 2 in May?

[Deleted User]

Wifey101 said:

Where do bank holidays fit in? There were 2 in April and 2 in May?

Bank holidays do not mean anything under UK employment law. You are entitled to a minimum of 28 days annual leave, if a company wishes you to work on a bank holiday or not that is up to them. 

[Deleted User]

getmore4less said:

Have they claimed the furlough money and then said you are on holiday and topped that up?
I don't think that is part of the scheme.
in your position if that is what they have done I would check the scheme carefully and report them if they have cheated it.

That is entirely allowed under the scheme, the rule is that any holiday must be paid at 100%, but that can be 80% furlough and 20% top up. 

Wifey101

I normally don't work bank holiday. They can't ask me to use up a holiday day for a bank holiday. In the past, if someone took a week's holiday which included a bank holiday, they had another day off in lieu later on.

Jeremy535897

Just to clear up a few misconceptions here.
Bank holidays are covered bu UK employment law, which provides for a minimum holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks (4 weeks plus 8 bank holidays). The rate of holiday pay depends on whether you are a fixed rate employee or a variable pay employee. Fixed rate employees get their regular salary, variable pay employees get an average of the last 52 weeks paid wages. This is a simplification.

Overlaying this is EU case law that provides that you are not supposed to be worse off on holiday than if you were at work. It is really designed to cover overtime and commission etc, but has been taken to mean that you must be paid your pre furlough rate of pay for holidays. There is some doubt about this, but everyone seems to be going along with it, although it only applies to the 4 weeks, not bank holidays. Unless your contract of employment provides that bank holidays are just treated as flexible holiday with the other 4 weeks, I don't think an employer can make you work, say, Christmas 2020 and take holiday now instead while on furlough.

There is a lot of guidance on GOV.UK. This is quite comprehensive:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-holiday-pay-for-workers-without-fixed-hours-or-pay/calculating-holiday-pay-for-workers-without-fixed-hours-or-pay--2

ToxicWomble

Sounds like they having acted properly.

One could also argue that you have had 10 weeks off at 80% pay which many people who have continued to work throughout the crisis would be delighted to have been offered.