Overtime Working During Annual Leave

LisaBryan52

I have an employee who took 6 weeks holiday last year (which is her allowance). But looking back at her annual leave record for last year she wasn't actually off for a full week i.e. Mon - Sun due to overtime hours that she requested to work in the same week as her annual leave. Her contract is 36 hours per week (Mon-Sun). She doesn't have set days to work - some weeks it will be Thurs, Sat & Sun, the next week it could be Mon, Wed & Fri, for example. 

I thought I was doing her a favour as I know she struggles financially, but there now seems to be an issue of payment in lieu of holidays and she is now requesting extra holidays this year, claiming she is exhausted.

My query is in relation to the payment of holidays - would this be seen as payment in lieu of leave, even though she requested to work during her annual leave week? 

Thrugelmir

Let her take some of this years holiday allowance in advance. You'll have a more productive employee. 

General_Grant

LisaBryan52 said:

I have an employee who took 6 weeks holiday last year (which is her allowance). But looking back at her annual leave record for last year she wasn't actually off for a full week i.e. Mon - Sun due to overtime hours that she requested to work in the same week as her annual leave. Her contract is 36 hours per week (Mon-Sun). She doesn't have set days to work - some weeks it will be Thurs, Sat & Sun, the next week it could be Mon, Wed & Fri, for example. 

I thought I was doing her a favour as I know she struggles financially, but there now seems to be an issue of payment in lieu of holidays and she is now requesting extra holidays this year, claiming she is exhausted.

My query is in relation to the payment of holidays - would this be seen as payment in lieu of leave, even though she requested to work during her annual leave week? 

Do you only allow holiday to be a full week (looks like 3 days in this case and they are 12-hour days)? 
In the weeks when she was on leave (3 days?) did she work more than 4 days?  If not, then she could have had her paid leave on the days she didn't work and that is what you paid holiday pay for.

Savvy_Sue

You may want to revisit your T&C: some employers won't pay overtime if the person doesn't work all their normal hours, either because they booked annual leave or because they were sick for a normal working day.

This is more of an issue if overtime is paid at an enhanced rate.

When does your leave year begin and end? Bringing some forward is a pragmatic solution, but I'd make it clear it was a one off, and that they WILL NOT be able to work overtime if they are taking annual leave.

getmore4less

Bringing forward paid holiday you can fall foul of statutory minimum the next holiday year.

If they have already been paid for their holiday allowance then any extra days off does not need to be paid.

That also overcomes any claim that holidays were bought out. 

LisaBryan52

Thrugelmir said:

Let her take some of this years holiday allowance in advance. You'll have a more productive employee. 

Thank you for your reply. I think I should give her the extra weeks this year since she really didn't get proper rest breaks last year.

LisaBryan52

General_Grant said:

LisaBryan52 said:

I have an employee who took 6 weeks holiday last year (which is her allowance). But looking back at her annual leave record for last year she wasn't actually off for a full week i.e. Mon - Sun due to overtime hours that she requested to work in the same week as her annual leave. Her contract is 36 hours per week (Mon-Sun). She doesn't have set days to work - some weeks it will be Thurs, Sat & Sun, the next week it could be Mon, Wed & Fri, for example. 

I thought I was doing her a favour as I know she struggles financially, but there now seems to be an issue of payment in lieu of holidays and she is now requesting extra holidays this year, claiming she is exhausted.

My query is in relation to the payment of holidays - would this be seen as payment in lieu of leave, even though she requested to work during her annual leave week? 

Do you only allow holiday to be a full week (looks like 3 days in this case and they are 12-hour days)? 
In the weeks when she was on leave (3 days?) did she work more than 4 days?  If not, then she could have had her paid leave on the days she didn't work and that is what you paid holiday pay for.

Thank you for your reply.  I should've added that she normally works overtime anyway (works 4-5 days a week) so I paid her average hours each time she took annual leave which was 60 hours per week, but because she requested to work overtime during annual leave she still worked between 3 - 5 days per week and was therefore paid over 100 hours for most weeks that she took annual leave. 
Therefore, thinking about it and after reading all the replies here, I'm going to let her take extra this year as she worked basically the same hours as normal when she was supposed to be having a break. I've decided to not let anyone do overtime during annual leave again as they get paid their average working hours anyway so aren't at any disadvantage when they are off (plus I don't want to get into bother by paying holidays when they are in working the same amount of hours! :-))
Thanks again for your thoughts on this! :-) 

LisaBryan52

Savvy_Sue said:

You may want to revisit your T&C: some employers won't pay overtime if the person doesn't work all their normal hours, either because they booked annual leave or because they were sick for a normal working day.

This is more of an issue if overtime is paid at an enhanced rate.

When does your leave year begin and end? Bringing some forward is a pragmatic solution, but I'd make it clear it was a one off, and that they WILL NOT be able to work overtime if they are taking annual leave.

Thank you for your reply. Leave year is Jan - Dec and no enhanced rate for overtime. But I agree with your solution. I think I've learned my lesson from this situation and will not approve overtime working during an annual leave week again. :-)

getmore4less

You do know that the average "weeks pay" used for holiday pay  is calculated over 52 weeks since April last year?

LisaBryan52

Yes, I'm aware and have been paying her average wage over 52 weeks when she takes annual leave.

Apintplease

Is she on a Zero hour contact or fixed hours?

I used to be ZHC, which worked to my benefit until last January where I was placed on fixed hours. The excuse being it made holiday/sick pay easier to work out. We dont get an enhanced rate for overtime either , however OT is paid a month in arrears so if we dont get full hours in a week, overtime another week is reduced to cover those hours

So I get paid for 24hrs, but usually work 21.5 over 3 days .Means I have to cover Saturday mornings twice a month to make my hours. I could get my 24 hrs within my three days but I have other commitments ( elderly care ) 

I was asked to take two weeks holiday at the start of this lockdown - 6 days @ 7.5hrs which meant I still had to come in on one Saturday. One of the girls I work with wanted one of my days that I work off, so I took five days holiday, I didn't work overtime, my holiday spend was reduced. Its all so much easier for the pay roll and for ensuring I get the correct holiday hours

If your employee is on ZHC it can get messy about what is overtime and whats not, how much holiday they are owed etc Its probably better thet a fixed hour contact is signed, For me and my circumstances my contract works for us both. If I can get my 24hrs in on my three days then I do and I get any overtime a month later. Health and circumstances keep me at doing 21.5, not a problem, I make it up weekends, and when work is really quiet and no weekend work required, the hours are taken off my holiday. Feb is always quiet, this year is dead, if I was still on ZHC id be being sent home with no hours