Back Dated Hoilday Pay..

[hippyhoppy]

Got given a contract last week, 2 and a half years after starting work... which established that I'm entitled to 5.6 week's pay per year... so am I entitled to 2 and a half years back holiday pay? Bloody hope so!!

[Buenchico]

A few points:

1. You've always had a contract of employment, even if nothing was ever written down. (A contract automatically exists between an employer and an employee).

2. You're employer was obliged to provide you with a 'written statement of employment particulars' within two months of you starting work, so you're employer seems to have been breaking the law.

3. Since 1st April 2009, ALL employees have been legally entitled to 5.6 times the number of days worked per week as their minimum holiday entitlement (subject to a cap of 28 days, so those who work 6 days per week only get the same holiday entitlement as people who work 5 days per week). It needs to be remembered though that all 'enforced holidays', when (for example) the firm is closed for business [such as Christmas Day and other public holidays, if appropriate] are included within that entitlement.

4. With exception of people who work irregularly (such as agency staff) holidays must be exactly that; they can't be replaced by 'holiday pay'. So your employer might owe you additional (paid) days off, rather than actual money. (However, if an informal agreement to the contrary is better for you and your employer, nobody is likely to object).

Chris

[Maydup]

Have you not had any paid holiday then hippyhoppy?

[buildersmate]

Were you perhaps regarded as a 'contractor' in the first 2.5 years by the organisation? (irrespective of whether the organisation was correct in treating you as such). This could explain the lack of holiday pay.

If they been deducting tax and NI at source since you started there, you couldn't not have been regarded as a contractor.

[factor-fiction]

Are you saying you have had no holidays at all? I am surprised that the subject of holidays was never discussed or covered in documentation such as office handbooks which form part of your contractual terms and conditions

[boxtops]

I don't understand, how come you've worked 2.5 years with no paid holidays?

[hippyhoppy]

Thanks for your answers. I've had holiday, just not been paid for the time I've had off. Dreading bringing the topic up, but been told by friends that I'm owed it so I suppose I should bite the bullet.... akward.com!!

[buildersmate]

So you've been given unpaid time off over this time?

You didn't answer my question about the mechanism by which your organisation has been paying you (either on the payroll or attempting to treat you as a contractor) so I can't help you further to understand why your employer should have believed it could treat you in this way. On the face of it, if you've been on the payroll they cannot deny you holiday entitlement in line with statutory obligations, and that include back-tracking for what is already gone.

[boxtops]

They've made you take unpaid leave? That's shocking. What about the people you work with, what happened to their holidays?

[boxtops]

... and it's not awkward at all, your contract says you should have holiday pay. Is the effective date of the contract backdated for the 2.5 years?