New employer won’t pay holiday

daisywibble

Hi, my sister has working for a independent shop for over 15 years. In March it was sold to an Indian family. As they have a large family only my sister and 1 other lady of the original staff were kept on. He slashed their hours down from over 30 to just 16. He keeps changing my sister’s hours, ringing up late at night or early morning to change those hours. He was very cagey about the subject of paid holiday but kept maintaining she will get everything she is entitled to. Now she has a week off in a couple of weeks and he said he won’t be paying it this time, implying he will pay all the weeks together in the future. Is he allowed to do that? He has not proven himself as trustworthy. She has already had to have 3 weeks of unpaid leave as he closed the shop for a refit. Are employers allowed to not pay holiday at the time of the holiday. Many thanks.

Mark_d

I don't think the employer has to pay you holiday pay on the specific day you're on holiday.  But there are laws about entitlement to holiday pay and your sister should have her employment contract, which should state the terms of her employment.
Based on what you say I think your sister should start looking for a new job where she'll be happier and feel valued.

General_Grant

Her contract should have been transferred with the purchase of the business.
Did her original contract specify 30 hours?
How was she notified of the change in the number of hours?

RAS

A young relative of mine successfully sued for non-payment of statutory sick leave and holiday leave, neither of which were sorted out when they left the company. Even doing a day a week, you accrue holiday leave.

But the starting point is, what does the sister's original contract say about working hours? What does it say about holiday leave? 

Brie

She could be paid for her holidays as part of each pay so an extra amount added on to her hourly wage.  Lots of small businesses do this and lots of temps and contractors paid this way also.  But it does mean when they don't work (aka go on holiday) they don't get paid anything.  

The proviso on this of course is that holiday pay is on top of getting at least the national minimum wage.  

So she is legally entitled to be paid at least £11.44 an hour PLUS the overall equivalent of 5.6 weeks if working full time.  If her previous employer paid her more than £11.44 or gave extra holidays then one would expect the new employer to honour those at least until such time as a new contract is agreed.  

Also - if she had unpaid holiday from the previous employer then she is still entitled to be paid that as well.  

Frankly I think she should keep very careful track of the hours, pay, changes in shifts as it sounds like it will come to a head eventually where she may have to report her employer.  

daisywibble

Thanks for the replies. I’m told she doesn’t have a contract, never has by any of the previous owners , but up to when they took over she worked full time all her previous owners gave her the usual amount of paid holiday. But they had multiple staff and ran it in the usual manner.

Savvy_Sue

Brie said:

She could be paid for her holidays as part of each pay so an extra amount added on to her hourly wage.  Lots of small businesses do this and lots of temps and contractors paid this way also.  But it does mean when they don't work (aka go on holiday) they don't get paid anything.  

The proviso on this of course is that holiday pay is on top of getting at least the national minimum wage.  

So she is legally entitled to be paid at least £11.44 an hour PLUS the overall equivalent of 5.6 weeks if working full time.  If her previous employer paid her more than £11.44 or gave extra holidays then one would expect the new employer to honour those at least until such time as a new contract is agreed.  

Also - if she had unpaid holiday from the previous employer then she is still entitled to be paid that as well.  

Frankly I think she should keep very careful track of the hours, pay, changes in shifts as it sounds like it will come to a head eventually where she may have to report her employer.  

Of course, if they do this, the holiday pay must be shown as a SEPARATE amount each time on her payslip, so no nonsense about "your hourly rate already includes holiday pay". 

General_Grant

daisywibble said:

Thanks for the replies. I’m told she doesn’t have a contract, never has by any of the previous owners , but up to when they took over she worked full time all her previous owners gave her the usual amount of paid holiday. But they had multiple staff and ran it in the usual manner.

She had a contract as clearly she turned up for work and was paid.
However this appears not to have been written and is more difficult to prove but she could use past payslips for evidence.

By the way legally she was entitled to written particulars of her employment.  But this didn't have to be signed by anyone but the law is that it should have been supplied.

Hoenir

Consult ACAS.