A couple of holiday pay questions ...

[raleighnut]

They will be breaking the law if this is the case. She is entitled to 28 days paid holiday a year (including Bank Holidays). They can't just start her entitlement from a day to suit them. She should speak to HR/Payroll and get them to sort it.

The legal minimum is only 20 working days holiday per annum*. EU regulations make it illegal for a company to force you to work for more than 48 weeks a year (however if you choose to do it no-one is breaking any laws)

*this assumes people work 5 days a week so 'overtime' is not taken into consideration for holiday pay and neither is 'unsociable hours' allowance for nightshifts.

 

[srw]

I suspect she isn't because she is on a part-time four day a week contract, thus holiday entitlement is reduced pro rata.

That doesn't alter the fact that the employer choosing to start holiday calculations from a date convenient to them rather than from the employment start date is wrong.

 

[marinyork]

A lot of big companies have got rid of HR in the sense a lot of people mean it, it's now done in clusters and/or centrally, this has happened a lot. In anycase in my experience nightshifts were a very neglected group of people wrt HR departments even when they were around.

Also I'm guessing is/was a Christmas temp, that may have been kept on. Companies are busy in December and pay little attention to what goes on with anyone new (again more so with nightshift).

My advice would be to get your niece to ask a colleague to check it over and a manager. Often there are some colleagues who are far more fresh on the details and sharper (despite being sleep deprived) than HR people or even some managers. Might have to ask around a bit though. Already done that?

Some companies **cough** have weird things like it docks you your holidays automatically on your payslip and then it pays you them back on the payslip and this might not be said explicitly. Also the other thing to bear in mind with nightshift is what is defined as the 'day'. So some companies do it the hour the shift starts on and others do it the shift from midnight. If your niece is on a enterprise social network for work she could very politely ask and open question about holidays or you could even find the HR manager's email address on there.

Contract likely won't say very much illuminating at all. Look up handbook and Christmas working arrangements.

One should be paid the nightshift premium for your holiday. I'm very busy so haven't got the time to dig out caselaw, but it's often in companies' own guides for payroll.

Does the company begin with a T or an S?

 

[bikingdad90]

Point one could be because bank holidays are included within her holiday entitlement.

Point two, to clarify she did not work Monday night and Tuesday night? In which case they have deducted two shifts and then added back two shifts?

We need more information; does she get paid a premium for working nights or the same as a day worker as nights are her usual working hours? Also the deduction denominator is company policy and is a grey area due to contract wording. Some use days in a month others annualise or base on 365 days/year.

Point three, holiday entitlement, continuous employment, employee rights start from day one not date contract was passed to her. Employment contracts can be verbal/casual and needs sorting with HR

 

[ColinJ]

I'm not exactly sure what the shift pattern is, how many hours etc., just that my niece is very disgruntled because she feels 'ripped off'. She does get a night shift premium. I think she needs to calm down and speak to the right person who can sort all of this out.

In my last job we got the bank holidays added on to the other holiday entitlement. The company closed for some bank holidays (Christmas Day, Boxing Day etc.) so we didn't get a choice for them, but others were optional and we could book them off or not.

I can't remember what arrangement I had when I worked a full-time night shift for a year, but that was over 30 years ago so the rules have probably changed now anyway.

The company name does NOT begin with a 'T' or an 'S' but I don't want to give any more information which might let somebody work out who the employer is!

The more I think about it, the more I think it is due to somebody making a mistake. I'll ask my sister if there has been a resolution when I speak to her again next week.

 

[PaulSB]

This sounds to me like an admin error or a need for clarity. One comment I would make, this assumes your niece is a young woman, is payslips and how pay is calculated can be difficult to understand from payslips for inexperienced and/or new employees.

I recall as a young man finding it difficult to grasp. Before I retired it was not unusual for young or new employees to need a couple of explanations of how pay was made up and shown on a payslip. I think it’s a fairly common shortcoming in many companies.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I suspect she isn't because she is on a part-time four day a week contract, thus holiday entitlement is reduced pro rata.

She may not be part time, she may work 4x 10 hour shifts, we've not got all the facts no disrespect to the OP, but we're hearing this 3rd hand, from the sister of the mother of who it happened to, the advise stands, get the niece to ask for an explanation.

 

[ColinJ]

My niece is early twenties.

I agree about the Chinese whispers thing. My sister was just a bit stressed when I spoke to her. She probably told me the details but I have a memory like a sieve and can't recall them all.

I was just curious to know what the actual rules are about holiday pay. It is obviously up to my niece to get it sorted out at work.

I do remember being very peed off about holidays when I was working hard in my thirties. One year we were so busy that my June summer holiday in the Yorkshire Dales kept getting put off because my leave repeatedly got cancelled. I ended up going at the start of November and got snowed in!

 

[cd365]

The legal minimum is only 20 working days holiday per annum*. EU regulations make it illegal for a company to force you to work for more than 48 weeks a year (however if you choose to do it no-one is breaking any laws)

*this assumes people work 5 days a week so 'overtime' is not taken into consideration for holiday pay and neither is 'unsociable hours' allowance for nightshifts.

It is 28 days https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/holiday-entitlements

 

[raleighnut]

It is 28 days https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/holiday-entitlements

It must have changed since I last worked for an agency.