Holiday Pay

[Ollymc]

Hi guys,

I need some advice.
My employer is proposing a change to the way they pay their employees holiday pay. They are suggesting to pay any accrued holiday pay in advance on top (separately, not included) of their monthly pay. I am on a flexie time contract and get an hourly rate. I work a full time, 38 hour week.
I have read about "rolled-up holiday pay" and my understanding of this is that holiday pay is included in the salary of the employee as a percentage and is clearly set out in the payslip.
My employer has said to me that what they are suggesting is not "rolled-up holiday pay" as it will be paid separately to my hourly pay. They are expecting me to save up my accrued holiday pay for when I take a holiday. During that holiday period I will not get any pay.
How is the different to "rolled-up holiday pay"? Can my employer do this type of holiday pay?
I've had a chat with my boss who's said the reason they are making the change is because a certain part of the business has a few employees on "zero hour flexi time" contacts and it makes it fairer to them.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Olly

[teaboy2]

Re: Holiday Pay

Unfortunately so long as the pay slip shows that the amount paid is paid as accrued holiday and its separate from amount earned for basic hours worked. Then the employer is right. Though it most clearly state that its for accrued holiday pay.

Its only unlawful if the amount off accured holiday pay is included in your basic hourly pay and not separate from it on your pay slip.

[Ollymc]

Re: Holiday Pay

Thank you for the reply Teaboy2
I've been reading up on this and am starting to get more of an understanding. But I still can't see how this can be fair to the employee. Surely this goes against the Work Time Regulations act and the Employees Rights Act that both state that holiday pay should be paid at the time that leave is taken.
I have also just been reading that Zero Hour Contracts are being contested in Commons as I write this.
I have also been reading that it leaves the employer open to a lot of possible tribunals.
Alllllssssoooooo, surely a major responsibility in any HR Managers role is calculating and keeping on top of the companies employees holiday entitlement.
Any advice or useful links to more information would be very helpful

[teaboy2]

Re: Holiday Pay

Thank you for the reply Teaboy2
I've been reading up on this and am starting to get more of an understanding. But I still can't see how this can be fair to the employee. Surely this goes against the Work Time Regulations act and the Employees Rights Act that both state that holiday pay should be paid at the time that leave is taken.

The Key words are "should be" and not "Must Be" - which means the legislation/regulations say holiday pay should be paid when holidays are taken, but it also means holiday pay can be paid at other times too (such as accrued holiday pay being paid when employment is terminated). So as stated in my previous post, so long as they show what is paid to you as accrued holiday pay on your wage slip, and its separate from your basic hourly/salary pay then its perfectly legal. So its not in breach of any employment laws.

I have also just been reading that Zero Hour Contracts are being contested in Commons as I write this.

Wrong, this has already been debated and it was found that they are perfectly lawful. though personally i don't think they are fair on employees but the conservatives are more in favor or big businesses which happen to use these types of contracts more than others.

I have also been reading that it leaves the employer open to a lot of possible tribunals.

Given such contracts have been found lawful, then there will be no grounds to issue tribunal claims for being on such contract. Even if they had been found unlawful, they would probably have prohibited such claims from being made for such contracts that existed prior to them being found unlawful, which it turned out they were lawful.

Alllllssssoooooo, surely a major responsibility in any HR Managers role is calculating and keeping on top of the companies employees holiday entitlement.

Yes it is their responsibility, Holiday entitlement depends on what is stated in your contract, but the minimum your entitled too can be calculated using the info on this site - https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights

Any advice or useful links to more information would be very helpful

See above in red.