Holiday

[EZA15]

I work for a company where a shift is 8.5 hours a day. On Saturdays I do 7 hours my issue is if I want to book a holiday I have to book it as a full day. Is this right? Should I be able to have it as a full day? Because it’s not really a full shift? AIBU in thinking it should be half day holiday?

[Madonnasmum]

Where i work its the same, as holiday is calculated in days rather than hours.

[ScreamingValenta]

Surely your holiday allowance should be calculated in hours, not days, if the days you work are not of equal length - you should be able to book it as 7 hours? If you are 'losing' an hour and a half whenever you book a Saturday, that doesn't sound fair.

[Moanyoldcow]

Yes. It's 7 hours so of course it's not half a day.

You should be booking holidays in hours if you work variable hours but not all HR departments are very good at that.

[keepondreaming]

As PP have said, if you work non standard hours, your holiday should be calculated in hours rather than days. You may have to take a minimum number if hours at one go (to stop you having odd single hours off regularly) but T&Cs should state this.

[Namechange90]

You book what you need so if your going away Wednesday to Sunday youd book Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday. Doesn't really matter that work work 1.5 hours less on one day, it's still your work day

[starzig]

YABU. 1.5 h is hardly anything to get upset over. You are having the day off aren't you? Don't see why you would make a big drama out of it. It is certainly no way a half day.

[EZA15]

Yes but I’m losing 1.5 hours why should that be at detriment to me?

[Glumglowworm]

It shouldn’t be a half day because it’s more than half a day. It’s closer to a full day than a half day.

But your holiday allowance should be done in hours so you use 7 hours for a Saturday off and 8.5 hours for a weekday off.

[ScreamingValenta]

What do other employees at your workplace feel about this, OP? Has anyone raised the issue with HR or a union?

[GrandDesespoir]

YABU. 1.5 h is hardly anything to get upset over.

Not on the face of it, but if, say, the OP were to book ten Saturdays off in the course of a year she would effectively lose 15 hours' holiday which is the equivalent of two full working days. That's hardly fair.

[GoldenBlue]

Holidays should be in hours otherwise they can't be worked out properly for part time workers.

You shouldn't be detrimented

[MadForlt]

If you only book off Saturdays, or book them disproportionately more than other days, then yes, you would miss out.

If you booked weeks off, so the same number if Saturdays to other days, you would be even, and if you booked more weekdays than Saturdays (proportional to your many you work), then you would score slightly.

I guess they figure that out works out in the end on average.

Having said that, I agree that your holidays should be calculated as hours.

[stargazer2030]

Is your holiday entitlement in days or hours. If it's hours then it's unfair. If it's days it doesn't make a difference.

[BackforGood]

Not a legal stance, but maybe it is more of a 'supply and demand' thing, in that if all things were equal, in terms of number of hours worked per day, then I bet Saturdays would be the day most people wanted to take off. This way, it is a case of people preferring a Saturday, but then balancing that with the fact they don't "get" as much holiday as they would if they took another day off. Kind of like the carvery you buy Mon - Thurs is exactly the same meal as the one you buy on a Sunday, but it is cheaper mid-week as not so many people want it then.

[Coastalcommand]

Can you check with your union? Every contract is different, but they'd be able to help.

[EZA15]

We’re not in a union? I’ve asked HR and they’ve said it’s a full day.

[Moanyoldcow]

HR are wrong. They were calculating part time holiday incorrectly where I work when I started. I showed them some info from ACAS and policy has changed.

Look up the legal requirements and send to HR and see how you go.

[Dashper]

I'm in a similar situation to you OP in that I work PT with a longer "half" day. Our HR officer who drew up my contact couldn't get her head round the concept of a number of hours holiday, so we agreed my pro-rata holidays on the basis that a half day by itself is my 4.5 hours. Does your holiday balance out in that way?

[Brokenbiscuit]

How many hours a week do you do in total, OP?

[daisypond]

Your leave should be calculated in hours. But the Saturday definitely isn't a half-day.

[RedSkyAtNight]

If you went to an hours based system then you'd have to use more holiday to book a week day off. So moving to this system would only benefit you if you book disproportionately more Saturdays than any other day.

I imagine that HR find most people book a mix and it evens out.

[ZanyMobster]

It probably works in your favour overall as presumably you don't take off more than a full day when you take leave mon-fri?

[peachgreen]

How long is a lunch break on a full shift? My working day is 8.5 hours but an hour of that is lunch, so actually only 7.5 hours paid.