Zero Hours Contract. No Holiday Pay

[geoff1057]

Hi ,Iam being furloughed from my main job , I work a second job , and the bar owner has decided that he’s not going to furlough zero hour contract workers. ( he insists we don’t have a contract , but we all pay tax , and receive wage slips)Ok , his choice. Also hes never payed any of us holiday pay , one lad has worked there part time for 4 yrs , he’s never had holiday pay. How do we stand regarding this . Ruby

[fiction-factory]

You have got a contract- you had one from the day you started. But as you say that doesn't matter- employers don't have to furlough you.

As for holiday pay, I think it was probably built in to you basic pay. Mine is

[Buenchico]

^^^ Holiday pay can't be built into normal pay. An employee on a zero hours contract accrues an entitlement to paid holiday at a rate of 12.07%. e.g. an employee who has worked for a total of 100 hours will have built up 12.07 hours of paid holiday time.

ACAS is usually the first port of call for people who're concerned that their employer isn't meeting their statutory obligations:
https://www.gov.uk/pay-and-work-rights

[fiction-factory]

No Buenchico. As someone who works on various zero hours contracts I can assure you holiday pay is built in to my pay. Maybe the term 'basic' is wrong= maybe gross is a better term. All my agencies do this. They quote a nice round number as an hourly/daily rate and say in small print that it includes holiday pay of something like 12% (probably is your 12.07% figure). One has started to show it separately on my pay slip but I still get it paid with my salary each month. One gives me the option of netting it off and taking it at set times but the others don't give that option.
Obviously this is subject to Minimum Wage for some jobs- the amount net of the holiday element must exceed the minimum wage, but my rates don't come close to minimum wage.
So I maintain that Ruby and friends COULD be receiving holiday pay already without realising it, but they should check with their employer

[Buenchico]

That's not the same as building in' holiday pay though, F-F. It's simply giving you paid holiday time straight away.

Anyway, it's largely irrelevant as Ruby's employer still needs to be convinced that a zero-hours contract actually exists in the first place:
https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question1701426.html

Publicans traditionally employed many casual bar staff as if they were self-employed, paying them cash-in-hand as a 'contractor' and leaving it up to the individual as to whether or not they informed HMRC about their 'business'. (As nominally self-employed individuals, such bar staff were denied holiday pay and the other employment rights which are aforded to employees).

HMRC have clamped down a lot on such arrangements and most publicans now deduct income tax and National Insurance from the pay of such staff. However it hasn't yet dawned upon a significant minority of publicans that, by offering someone such casual work as an employee, they've automatically created a zero-hours contract, meaning that they must provide the employee with all the benefits that employed status brings about.

Ruby's employer clearly needs his knuckles rapped!

[geoff1057]

After pressing management, they did (after consulting accountant) that we are on zero contract hours . On my and fellow worker pay slips ,we are payed the minimum wage for hours worked, and from this amount tax is deducted , nothing extra and no mention of holiday pay. Indeed I questioned our manager about entitlement to holiday pay some time ago and got a quick sharp “ no”