Shift holiday entitlement

[Crackfox]

Can an employer incorporate holidays into a shift cycle? As an example if I work 4 days on and 4 days off can they include part of my holiday entitlement in with the days off, spread out over the year? Effectively it feels as though we are only getting half of our holiday entitlement.

[Law Student 5]

Celestine ULA

Hi, so as all workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday per year you would be entitled to 22 days of holiday leave (4 x 5.6, 4 being the amount of days you work). Should you choose to take your holiday leave on your days off then this is your prerogative however your days off cannot be included within your holiday entitlement. Unlike a bank holiday or public holiday which can be included in your leave by your employer your days off cannot be.

[Crackfox]

Yes I knew it was not right. Its like working 5 days a week and your employer incorporating your holidays into your weekend off.

[EnglandPi]

You work four days on and four days off. You book seven- or fourteen-days holiday and take a break.

You cant incorporate your days off into your holiday because a holiday by definition is a day off anyway.

Are you not over thinking this?

[ULA]

Just to put this very simply if you work 4 days on and 4 days off and you wanted to take a 7 day holiday starting on the first day of your shift then you would need to take 4 days from your holiday entitlement. The other 3 days would be from your 3 days off you would then have another day off and return back to work.

[Crackfox]

Hi thanks for the replies but I don't think I've explained it properly. They have put half of everyone's yearly holiday entitlement in with every 4 days off on every cycle as fixed holidays. And the other half of the holdays are floating so can be taken at our choosing. So it feels as if we are only getting half of our holiday entitlement. I've never heard or seen this happen anywhere else but might it be some type of legal loophole?

[EnglandPi]

Can you explain this sentence in more detail please:

They have put half of everyone's yearly holiday entitlement in with every 4 days off on every cycle as fixed holidays.

Does this mean you have to take more than four days off?

[Crackfox]

Everybody has questioned the employer why we only get half of the statutory minimum holidays. And they have said well the rest is incorporated into your days off.

[Crackfox]

Does this mean you have to take more than four days off?

No we only get 4 days off on every cycle, but some how they say half of our yearly entitlement has been incorporated into these 4 days off.

[EnglandPi]

You need to get that in writing,

[ULA]

As a shift worker assuming you work full time you are entitled to 5.6 weeks' annual leave each year. The legislation does not state how to calculate statutory annual leave specifically for shift workers, although there is practical quidance how to do this.

The main answer to your question is that your holiday entitlement is for you to take time off your shift working days and although your employer can legally dictate when you take holiday, by the giving of twice as much notice as holiday being required to take, this has to be for the shifts days that you are due to work.

[Bingbongsong]

I think the short answer is no, they can’t.

Assuming your employment is classed as full time, your employer must allow you 5.6 weeks holiday per year.
Those 5.6 weeks are to be taken from the 4 days per shift cycle which you work. None of the 5.6 weeks holiday days can be taken from any of the 4 days per shift cycle that are classed as days off.

A day which you do not work is either a day off OR a days holiday, it cannot be both.

[Law Student 4]

Your days off will not be considered to be part of your holiday entitlement.