employment law - holiday during notice

[bucksta]

i have just had to leave a job due at the end of my probationary period with 1 weeks notice which im not required to work, during this week i had a holiday booked which i now would not be ABLE to work which has been taken from my salary. is my former employer ok to do this? i did request two days before this day that i wished to cancel it.

they has also miscalculated my entitled holidays and taken money from pay for going over my allocation.
they said i had 1.5 holiday days but it looks like as per there contract i completed 2 full months which would mean 3.7 holiday days...

[buildersmate]

Having decided to terminate your contract, they probably took a look at your holiday plans and decided to implement termination at the end of that period. When you say you are not required to work the last week, what your employer is probably meaning is that since you have booked this time as holiday they obviously don't expect you in work. I don't believe you have an entitlement to change this plan now, in much the same way as you wouldn't expect an employer to cancel your holiday plan once booked. It works both ways.
Regarding how much holiday entitlement you have depends on the company policy. Your figures above suggest the company gives 22 days holiday per year, you maintain you have done 2 months work implying 3.7 days (your calculation, I'm assuming). Once again this depends on company policy. Most companies I've dealt with calculate this on a weekly basis then round up or down to the nearest half a day - not monthly. You will have to ask them. Don't forget that the entitlement may include public holidays, again according to company policy, and there's one of those in your final contractual week of employment - next Monday. Maybe that's where the discrepancy occurs.

[bucksta]

i have worked from the 04th june and my official end date is 28th august.

my contract states

* 22 days holiday

* The companys holiday year runs from 1st jan to 31st dec

* if you start or leave your employment during a holiday year your basic holiday entitlement in respect of the holiday year in queston will be calculated pro rata for each complete month of service in that holiday year.

*upon termination of your employment you will be entitled in lieu of any unused basic holiday entitlement or be required to repay to the company pay received for holiday taken in excess of your basic holiday entitlement. Any sums so due may be deducted from any money oweing to you.


my employer is saying that this means i have worked one full calender month and have stated my entitlement is 1.5 days. but i believe that as it says "complete month of service in that holiday year" not "calender month" then i should be entitled to 3.7 days

any views?

[thugulike]

Normally the contract states 'full calendar month'. You haven't said whether or not the 22 days are to include Bank Holidays or whether they are extra to your 22 days. It does make a difference.

[buildersmate]

I agree with you, now you've explained the full position. A full calendar month normally means from 04 June to 04 July - not that 'July is the only complete month you've accrued holiday for'. You could argue that the phrase should say 'a complete calendar month' if that's what they intend it to mean. Worth fighting for - raise a grievance and push it up the chain a bit.

[scoobydooby]

See this link:

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=80 6

I don't think an employer can dictate in their terms and conditions that you have to work a full month to qualify for leave for that period. The example on the ACAS site gives an entitlement for someone who leaves after only 3 days in a job.

[bucksta]

thanks everyone i had already sorted it now tho, i rang them yesterday and they contacted their lawyers and sorted out both my entitlement and cancelled my holiday day for friday which i obviously cudnt take...

:-)