Employment Contract Q

[cassa333]

This q is for my friend so if there are any suplementary q I will have to ask her the answers :)

Where she works the place closes over the Christmas week. It does this because there are no customers.

Previously, although they didn't open the staff came in and did a clean and tidy.

About 3 or 4 years ago the employer gave them the three days off over Christmas and paid them as a thank you for working hard all year and possibly because they couldn't afford a pay rise.

They have done the same since then until this year.

This year they have said that they will need keep three days from their annual leave to cover for the holiday.

Are they allowed to do this? and do they have to go through a consultation period because they are saying they have use their own holiday for it?

She also wants to know if she can say that she will take it unpaid so that she can save her holiday.

Shw has been told (by someone else) that because they gave the week as extra paid holiday for those years it has become an implied part of her contract and can't take it away now.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Peter Pedant]

Dear dear - cutting someone's wages always motivates the workers ( to work harder ).

I think that an employer can direct a worker to take holiday so long as it is with notice and the notice has to be the length of the holiday ( seven days notice for seven days hol ) Clearly this would be filled.

yes she can ask but I dont think it is a right

and I am not sure about - they did it last year so they have to do it inperpetuity..... I dont think so.

She - they need to get unionised.....

[black_cat51]

i don't think 3 occasions is long enough to be classed as custom and practice
In the normal course of things, the employer can tell you to take holiday whenever it suits them (as this clearly does) as long as they have the correct amount.
She could ask for unpaid leave, but it doesn't m ean it will be granted

[cassa333]

Apparently the contract she had a few years ago said that they couldn't make her use her annual leave for Christmas period but in a later one it was abscent altogether.

So she is saying that because it doesn't say they can make her take holiday over Christmass they can't make her take it.

Can they say, we are shut and you have to take part of your annual holiday, if the contract is silent on the subject?

I think she wants them to give her the three days paid but not take it from her leave allowance!!

[black_cat51]

yes, they can say that. there are many places that have a christmas shut down

[cassa333]

Sorry got a bit wrong. Her old contract said they COULD maker her take holiday but the new contract is silent on the subject.

It all boils down to whether they can make her take holiday at Christmas if the contract is silent.

And do they have to 'go through consultation' because she is saying it is a change in the terms and conditions of her contract.

[black_cat51]

hello, hello, am i using invisible ink?
for the third time, in employment law, the employer can make you take holiday when it suits them, as long as they give you the right amount.

[Buenchico]

As long as reasonable notice is given (and the statutory minimum annual holiday entitlement is met) then, unless there's anything to the contrary in the employee's contract, an employer is ALWAYS free to determine when an employee's holiday will be.

Since there's no mention in the contract about the employee having any right to determine exactly when they'll take their holidays, the employer remains free to determine when they'll be.

[cassa333]

Sorry Black-cat, She was breathing down my neck at the time. I've sent her home now lol

I was saying the same as you and everyone else but she didn't believe me or rather didn't want to. She is desperate for them to be in the wrong and has asked the same thing in different ways.

Because the term was in one contract and not the newer one she thought they couldn't do it. Then when that was wrong she was trying to say it was a change of terms and conditions.

She will just have to accept she is going to have to take the time as holiday. Unfortunately my ear will be sore for a while :(

But thank you all for your advice. Not what she wanted to hear but the right advice non the less.

[black_cat51]

i dunno what's up with me tonight - just grumpy i think!

[buildersmate]

Buenchico and Black Cat have correctly nailed the relevant legislation. The remaining angle to cover off would seem to be the question "ah, but you changed my contract to exclude this term, so it can't apply". To this question the employer would merely answer, the term was changed because statute says I can do it anyway.
Nothing doing, I'm afraid.

[cassa333]

Hi,

This is a bit of a suplimentary question but does anyone know how or where I can find a calculator for workut holiday entitlement for someone who works term time only please?

I have been tiffleing around and found a couple of sites, including the HMRC one and I can't figure it out.

Thanks