deductions from pay?

[pushybabe1]

my niece has asked me for help as she has just received her contract of employment , she is employed on a 16 hour a week contract which means she will get 5.6 working weeks holiday which works out at 90 hours over the year, the contract says that they only recognise 5 public bank holidays a year where her employer will pay the staff double time if any of them work it that day (i did explain to her that employers are not obliged to pay staff for all the bank holidays in the year but its good that hers recognise and pay double time for 5) so what her contract says is that if she works the bank holiday and is paid at the double time rate, then this will be deducted for her holiday entitlement, this doesnt make sense or maybe its just too early in the morning for me, so help please answerbankers

[boxtops]

This doesn't make sense in the way it's worded. We get 8 bank holidays but they are included in our total holiday allowance - so if I get 25 days holiday + 8 BH, my total holiday allocation is 33 days. Can you give us the actual wording from her contract?

[pushybabe1]

ok here goes
The public/bank holidays each year are : August Bank Holiday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day Easter Monday, other bank holidays are good friday may day spring bank holiday.

Any bank holidays worked are paid at double time but this extra day will be deducted from you ( THIS THIS SHOULD BE YOUR) holiday entitlement, and as i said she is to get 5.6 working eweeks holiday which works out at 90 hours, so thats it

[boxtops]

It sounds as if they are saying that the extra hours for the double time counts as a day's holiday pay...? so in other words, if she were paid normal rate on the BH, she would still keep her holiday allocation?
I think she needs to clarify with the company how it works, it seems very odd, particularly if she doesn't have much choice if she works on a BH.

[pushybabe1]

yes it does seem odd, you work it then you get double then its taken back off you when you next get paid, or you dont work it then youve not been paid for it, as they dont have set days each for working, her days vary from week to week, it is strange i havent seen nowt like it before maybe she should contact acas or someone?

[boxtops]

IMO her first step should be to ask her employers about it - does she have other colleagues whose contracts are the same, so she can ask them how it works? The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks pro rata (see attached) http://www.direct.gov...dholidays/DG_10029788 and BH can be included in that entitlement. It just seems an odd way of paying it, worth checking out.

[pushybabe1]

will get it sorted hopefully soon, thanx boxtops

[factor-fiction]

She gets the statutory minimum holidays of 5.6 weeks including any bank/public holidays. I assume she takes bank holiday off this comes from her entitlement. If she works a bank holiday she gets paid double time but has a day's holiday deducted, so effectively she is only getting her normal daily rate. (There is no law saying double time has to be paid.)
But the problem I see is that she won't actually get her full share of her holiday entitlement so it seems to me it's not legal

[pushybabe1]

it is a hard one to answer, i did explain to her that her employer is under no obligation to pay double time for bank hols and they actually do pay for 5 of them, also as she works diffrent days (2) each week she may not even work a bank hol, maybe its better for her to call acas and explain it all to them but thanx all for the help