holiday pay for part time worker

[Barney's pal]

My partner runs a small business. I used to do the office work, invoices etc but wanted a change, so we employed a woman to come in 3 days a week from 9.30am until 3.30pm. She is a friend of a friend. When she first started we discussed the amount of holiday and I trusted her to find out the amount she was entitled to. Now my partner is complaining she seems to be always off. I asked her how many days she has a year and she said 15, plus bank holidays on top. Is this correct? It seems an awful lot for a part time worker. Our 2 full time staff get 21 days plus bank holidays on top. She works Tue, Wed thurs and says she is entitled to extra days when there is a bank holiday Monday because she doesn't work that day. My partner is very flexible because she has a toddler and she takes an hour off if he needs an appointment at docs or anything and she makes up time elsewhere. He is wondering if he's being taken for a bit of a mug. any advice grateful.

[pink-kittens]

this is one of the many tool avalable to you, the employer, to calculate employees holiday entitlement
http://www.direct.gov...dholidays/dg_10029788
The responsibility lies at your feet not your employees and if s/he has been taking you for a ride then it's down to you, not her/him
FYI bank holidays can be included within the holiday entitlement and are not necessarily given on top of

[Jan1957]

This should help but it also looks like your full time workers are entitled to 28 days holiday.

http://www.direct.gov...dholidays/DG_10034642

[buildersmate]

Yes, you are being taken for a mug. This business about 'getting a day in lieu cos I don't wotk on the BH is drivel'.
She should get a minimum of 5.6 times the number of days per week she works INCLUDING the time for BHs. So for her the answer is 16.8 days per annum INCLUDING BHs. This means that if a day she works on is a BH, she takes it as part of her 16.8 days.

[buildersmate]

I was puzzled as to how she got to the magic number of 15, plus public holidays.
It sounds like she mistakenly believes that all FT employees are entitled 25 days holiday per year plus public holidays. Whilst many employers do grant that, your company evidently doesn't - and you are within the law because the 28 days minimum total holiday that Jan1957 refers to includes the 8 public holidays - you grant 29 in total.
Her 3-day week would, in her view, thus be a 3/5th ratio against the 25. (Wrong)
Secondly she is wrong to believe she gets the full 8 days public holiday entitlement - she only gets a 3/5th ratio.
Finally there is a small technical error in my 1st post - because you grant more than the minimum holiday to FT workers - 29 (21+8) days, whilst the legal minimum is 28.
Therefore you need to provide her with 5.8 times her days per week (3) - which is 17.4 days per annum, not 16.8 days. Otherwise you would be disminating against her as a part-timer.
Either way she got it spectacularly wrong to her advantage. Indeed I have never known an employee who calculated it themselves and got it wrong to calculate it to their disadvantage. BM

[Barney's pal]

Thanks guys you are right buildersmate, she should have 16.8 days including bank holidays, and I will point this out to her. I'm still a bit confused because her argument is that as she only works Tue Wed and Thur that she should get extra days because nearly every bank hol is a Monday when she is off anyway.

[buildersmate]

That is always the argument of part-timers who don't work a Monday - they just can't get their heads around it.
16.8 days is the statutory minimum you should be providing for her, but I trust your saw my 2nd post - since you seem to be providing your full-time employees with 29 days leave (inc BHs) and this is greater than statutory minimum of 28 days, you should really be granting her 17.4 days.