Holidays

[oscar]

Ok, firstly, this is not me being an arse! (unusually).

I work as a contractor, so all my holidays have to be accrued. I have tried to book two days off for next month, to be told, these HAD to be requested before the middle of this month (so before I had accrued entitlement) I also was unaware of this "rule" as no one had ever told me.


Having looked about, I have found that apparently, we (assume this is FT Perm staff, but apparently also applies to me) HAVE to take at least one week before 01/04. We HAVE to take two weeks between 01/05 and 31/08 and we HAVE to take one week before 01/12. Also appears that we (again refer to perm) are unable to take long weekends - say thursday / friday, or Monday Tuesday. Basically, looks like holidays are dictated to certain perameters.

Personally, I think this is unfair, and consider its legality dubious at best (though not looked) unless it is specifically written into your contract, which I obviously dont have.

Have raised a query with my Manager, as I cant book time off I dont have yet - but just wanted some guidance from people more knowledgable.

Lastly, and I cant see this happening, but other than say GM, IF and its a big IF, they wanted to get rid, would they have to go down official routes after (I believe) 12 weeks - IIRC Temp/Contractors have pretty much the same rights after this length of time - so they cant just call the Agency and so "no more"

[MrsD]

Re: Holidays

i would say that they can't dictate like this UNLESS it's written into your contact which you have a very clear copy of in your little mit.

Mr D has quite a few contractors work for him in his department, they do have to accrue holibags but can take accrued holidays as and when. They are all supposed to give a month's notice but in fact this is never adhered to by anyone

[oscar]

Re: Holidays

They are all supposed to give a month's notice but in fact this is never adhered to by anyone

I think ours is at least twice the length of the period we want. But obviously, mos businesses wouldnt be happy if you said on Wednesday, I want Friday off.

Hence why I try to give a couple of weeks at least (and personally, I prefer to take mine as random days or long weekends with the occassional week off)

[SXGuy]

Re: Holidays

Ok holiday entitlement states that employees can only take holidays providing the employer is in agreement.

Meaning if the employer said for example, you cant take holiday for the first 7 days prior to the xmas week as we are busy, then you would have to abide by that decision.

Usually, its written in your contract when you cant take holiday, which you must agree to before starting work. If its not in contract then its down to employer descresion.

Whether or not an employer can stipulate so many different periods you are unallowed to take holiday would come down to fairness, and would be a matter of argument, however, whether you could sucessfully argue your case is another matter.

Holiday entitlement accrues each year, depending on when your holiday entitlement starts from, for example, some companies run entitlement from begining of April to end of following March, or begining of October to end of September, and Janauary to december.

Each person is entitled to a Minimum of 5.6 days X number of days worked in a week up to 5 days per week. So if you work a 5 or 6 or 7 day week, your entitled to a min of 28 days including bank holidays.

Holiday accrues something like 1.2 days per week, something like that, without checking exactly im not sure, but you can see why you must give notice if you take holiday which you have not accrued during the year yet.

A Perfect example of this, is somebody who takes 14 days holiday but was only entitled to 10, then decides to hand in his notice, the employer now has to deduct 4 days overpaid holiday from your final payslip.

If you have no income because you didnt work, theres nothing for the employer to deduct it from and similarlly if what you earned falls short of what needs to be reclaimed, the employer is in a sticky situation where he has to try and get you to pay it back, which we all know is unlikely.

So the rules are there to safe gaurd the employer from overpaying staff to early.

Seems to me your only case is whether the restrictions are unfair.

[oscar]

Re: Holidays

Accrual works out at just over 4.2 hours per week. MY (agency) holiday runs in line with the Calender year. I am unaware of how the company's holiday calender works.

I have to have accrued holiday prior to me taking any.

If someone had requested 14 days holiday, then surely their request would be denied if they were only entitled to 10. Furthermore, if they had handed in notice, then any "over" payment from holidays could be deducted from their final salary payment.

Personally, I dont see how I can be expected to book 20 days holiday (we'll ignore bank holidays) when I haven't yet accrued them, and I dont actually know how long I will be working with the company for (such is life as an agency temp)

[Richard999]

Re: Holidays

I work as a contractor but get no holiday pay !
Is this something I may be entitled to by law ?
I charge my time by the day through a limited company and have no contract ?

I know legislation now applies to agency workers etc with regards to holiday pay

[oscar]

Re: Holidays

I work as a contractor but get no holiday pay !
Is this something I may be entitled to by law ?
I charge my time by the day through a limited company and have no contract ?

I know legislation now applies to agency workers etc with regards to holiday pay

Could well be something to do with you being via a limited company. I have seen jobs advertised via agencys were you can earn £8.00/h PAYE and can earn 9.24 self assessed.... this could be how you are, and you are responsible for working out your own holiday pay.

[Richard999]

Re: Holidays

You are probably right but with the way HR legislation etc is going I may get a holiday one day soon

[SXGuy]

Re: Holidays

If you are a ltd company, then you are in effect your own Employer and employee of the company, so any holiday pay would be paid to you through the company, so theres no real benifit.

[SXGuy]

Re: Holidays

Accrual works out at just over 4.2 hours per week. MY (agency) holiday runs in line with the Calender year. I am unaware of how the company's holiday calender works.

I have to have accrued holiday prior to me taking any.

If someone had requested 14 days holiday, then surely their request would be denied if they were only entitled to 10. Furthermore, if they had handed in notice, then any "over" payment from holidays could be deducted from their final salary payment.

Personally, I dont see how I can be expected to book 20 days holiday (we'll ignore bank holidays) when I haven't yet accrued them, and I dont actually know how long I will be working with the company for (such is life as an agency temp)

I agree with you, but you can book time off in advance, as your not actually paid those holidays until they have accrued.

And if you handed in your notice, well you hadnt took them yet, theres no issue.

By them stating when you HAVE to take time off, it sounds like they are putting aside holiday entitlement days for specific days of the year, which some employers do, i know of one that reserves 7 over the xmas period.

[oscar]

Re: Holidays

I agree with you, but you can book time off in advance, as your not actually paid those holidays until they have accrued.

By them stating when you HAVE to take time off, it sounds like they are putting aside holiday entitlement days for specific days of the year, which some employers do, i know of one that reserves 7 over the xmas period.

But in order for me to do that, I would have to know EXACTLY the formula for calcualting my holidays. This also restricts me in that I can oly take holidays when I have them - but I have to hope someone hasnt got the time off already .....

I dont work FOR the company, I am CONTRACTED via a third party - who are my employer. My contract is not with the company I work for, and while I agree there may be times I cannot have holidays, I dont see how I can be hold to a contract I essentially dont have.

Fair point regards holidays over xmas - but I expect most would be happy for that. Its not like I work in a factory that has a "shutdown". The other issue is, some people booked considerable holidays for this year, in November - before I was even working there.

[SXGuy]

Re: Holidays

have you spoken to the agency about this mate? Does seem abit unfair for you.