Week on, Week off. Still entitled to holidays?

[chapmano]

Hi,

My partner works week on, week off at work and can be asked to work up to 12 hours a day on his days on (and often is). He and his colleagues have been told that they are not entitled to holiday on top of those weeks off. What are his statutory rights to holiday - it's very difficult to find an answer to this anywhere online?

Thanks

[Kati]

Re: Week on, Week off. Still entitled to holidays?

Have you tried using the YouGov calculator? - https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement

[matt3942]

Re: Week on, Week off. Still entitled to holidays?

Hi [MENTION=68369]chapmano[/MENTION] - welcome to the forum.

1. Is your husband an employee (as opposed to a self-employed contractor)?
2. Was your husband given a written contract or statement of employment particulars? If so, what does it say about annual leave?
3. Does your husband get paid for the weeks he is not working?

In any case your husband will accrue holidays for the time he spends working. If he is paid for the week off, the employer is probably counting that as annual leave. The employer is entitled to do that; however, that arrangement should have been made clear. If he isn't paid for the week off, then your husband will be entitled to paid annual leave in addition to the week off.

- Matt

[chapmano]

Re: Week on, Week off. Still entitled to holidays?

Hi @chapmano - welcome to the forum.

1. Is your husband an employee (as opposed to a self-employed contractor)?
2. Was your husband given a written contract or statement of employment particulars? If so, what does it say about annual leave?
3. Does your husband get paid for the weeks he is not working?

In any case your husband will accrue holidays for the time he spends working. If he is paid for the week off, the employer is probably counting that as annual leave. The employer is entitled to do that; however, that arrangement should have been made clear. If he isn't paid for the week off, then your husband will be entitled to paid annual leave in addition to the week off.

- Matt

Thanks very much Matt,

1. Yes, he is an employee
2. He had a contract when he joined the company. The change to shifts was an amendment to this contract. The original contract gives him 20 days holiday, plus bank holidays plus one extra day for each full year he is employed up to a maximum of five extra. The written amendment to the contract does not mention holidays at all.
3. He is salaried so I assume this means the weeks off are paid.

Would really appreciate your further opinion on this. As far as I can see he is still contractually entitled to those holidays but I'm not sure whether they can retrospectively amend the contract to make it clear that the holiday is included in the week off?

thanks,

[matt3942]

Re: Week on, Week off. Still entitled to holidays?

Being salaried is no guarantee that the weeks off are paid. Does he have anything with an hourly rate or week's pay rate on? That way you could work out what a month's pay should be and compare it with his payslips.

He is definitely entitled to paid annual leave; however, the employer can dictate when holidays are taken and this doesn't need to be specified in the contract. If this is the arrangement for annual leave though, I would expect to see it written somewhere.

At this stage I would simply ask the employer why he's not entitled to additional holidays, and let us know what they said. If the employer has someone responsible for HR it might be worth asking them instead of the line manager.

- Matt

[teaboy2]

Re: Week on, Week off. Still entitled to holidays?

Or get hold of the company hand-book as well as asking HR!