holiday entitlement

[fruitsalad]

one of my jobs i work all day thursdays and fridays and just half a day on saturdays, when i take holiday on a saturday does it seem right that i lose a full days holiday should'nt i just lose half a day?

[jedimistress]

If you work half a week, then based on a pro rata basis, your half day holiday would be the equivalent to a whole day holiday taken if you had been working a 5 day week.

Hope that is clear. You should not lose a whole day's holiday if it was already calculated on the pro rata basis.

[factor-fiction]

Can I just clarify some things before I answer. If you took Thursday. Friday and Saturday off how many days would that count as- do Thursdays and Fridays also count as one day or two each?. And what's your annual entitlement?

Easiest way for dealing with these things is to convert annual entitlement (pro-rated) to hours and then when ou have time off count the number of hours taken off.

[buildersmate]

Yes, as above.
The only fair way to calculate holiday when you have shifts of differing lengths within a working week is to convert the whole entitlement into hours, and take the time off in hours. Some employers seem to have a problem understanding the logic of this - stick to your guns.

[fruitsalad]

thanks for your help, yes factor30 when i take thursday friday and saturday off that counts as 3 days holiday from my 15 days entitlement.

[factor-fiction]

So from what you say each day counts as a day's holiday whether it's a day you work all day (Thurs/Fri) or a Saturday when you work half a day. If that's how it is it seems an odd system as you will get much more time off if you take all your holidays on Thursdays/ Fridays. The system seems wrong- far better to use hours.

[fruitsalad]

yes that is how it works, i do try to only take thurs/fri off but can be difficult if i'm going away for a week when i need to take the saturday off as well, they have never mentioned it to me in hours but i think i will have to talk to the boss about it because it seems to make more sense that way.

[factor-fiction]

You also need to make sure you are getting your fair share of bank holidays. If you work half the hours of a full timer you're entitled to half the bank holidays- i.e. 4 days. Are these included in your annual entitlement of 15 days? I think they probably are. If they are then you need to take one of your holidays if a bank holiday falls on your normal working day provided the place of work shuts on that day.

[fruitsalad]

no i dont benefit from the bank holiday mondays because i dont work for them on a monday and yes they do close on the bank holidays, and on a good friday i normally work and get one day in lieu although i think by rights its should be 2 days in lieu and it always used to be 2 days until they decided to change the rules.

[factor-fiction]

Whether you work Mondays or not I think you are entitled to your pro-rata share of bank holidays- if you work half the hours of a full timer that's 4 bank holidays.
Many employers still don't understand (or explain to their staff) the entitlement to bank holidays and other holidays for staff who work part time /non-standard hours

[kempie]

How many weeks holiday do the full-timers get?
Is it the 6 weeks you are expecting (15 / 2.5) or 5 weeks (15 / 3), in which case your short Saturday counts as a full workday.

Are bank holidays part of their total holiday quota, or extra? There is no automatic entitlement to paid bank/public holidays. Most of these holidays fall on a Monday - if Mondays are never your work day then it is irrelevent to you if they happen to be a bank/public holiday. This is true of all days outside your normal working days.

All of this holiday / bank holiday entitlement should be set out in your contract.

[factor-fiction]

I partly agree with kempie in that it depends on what your contract says, how many hours you work compared to full time employees and how many holidays/public holidays the full timers get.

It would seem odd to me though if a Saturday holiday is treated the same as a Friday holiday. Just imagine if the company only allows her to take holidays on Saturdays- she would have far fewer hours off in a year pro rata than a full timer.

I think the bank /public holiday situation is a little less straightforward than Kempie suggests (though I accept I'm no expert). If full time staff get 8 public/bank holidays then I understood part time staff who work 50% hours (more likely to be women) could claim discrimination if they consistently get fewer than their fair share of bank holidays (eg because they work say Tuesday, Wed, Thurs).

So in fruitsalad's case the figure of 15 holidays includes bank hols so I'd like to know how many holidays/bank hols she get compared to full timers.

To sum up, fruitsalad, it would help if you could tell us what your contract says about holidays and bank hols, how many hours a week you work, how many hours a full timer works and what entitlement to bankholidays/holidays a full timer gets. Then I'm sure kempie/buildersmate/Ethel/Barmaid , etc could resolve this one

[fruitsalad]

when i first started the job in 1998 i was full time i started doing these new hours 3 years ago and have never received a new contract, when i phoned personnel to ask my holiday entitlement i was told i would get 15 days a year, nothing was mentioned about bank holidays i think my next port of call is to ask where my new contract is.