DD has not been paid for any of her annual leave, is there anything she can do?

[BobButtonsismycat]

DD17 works at a well known UK store since November 2024.

Let's call them 'The Mange'!

Before her new manager started in May this year she had no issues at all, however, since then several problems have arisen including this latest irk.

DD works 4 hours each on a Saturday and Sunday. She has to request all annual leave via an app. The manager will not accept requests if she has already made up the rota which is often completed a month or two ahead of time, fair enough, that's not the issue. Some time ago DD requested a weekend off each in June, July and again last weekend. These were all accepted on the app by the manager. However, when DD has checked her recent pay she noticed that she has not been paid for the June and July time off. When she asked the manager about this she told dd is was dd's fault. Apparently she should have marked down the actual hours requested off, so 14.00-18.00 on 26/07/25 instead of simply marking down the 26th July etc and therefore she will not get paid and she can not do anything about last week's time off either so will not get paid for this. The manager knows full well DD only ever works 4 hours on each day and usually the exact same hours too, surely she could have either corrected this herself at the time of request or asked dd to re-enter the details correctly, how was dd supposed to know this if no one informs her? She has spoken to a couple of the other younger ones and the same has been done to them.

Before this manager started in May this had never been an issue, the previous manager would accept the dates DD requested and she was paid accordingly.

The issue going forward is that DD has some AL still to take but the manager has already made up the rotas for the next couple of months and the staff are not allowed to take any time off during their busy Christmas period, her holiday entitlement starts from January to end of December and any annual leave not taken is lost.

Can DD request they back pay this AL taken (and approved) or will she have to see this as a life lesson?

Sorry, I don't have much employment experience as I have been self employed for years so not sure on the laws although I am planning on contacting ACAS today to see if they can advise.

Sorry I missed… when did the new manager start?

'yeah?
Do you detail the exact 9-5 for every day if you take a week's leave? Or do you just put M-F?
They know how much to pay her because it's the same pay they'd pay her if she was in work. They don't need to ask her every day what hours she actually worked in order to pay her that, do they? The 4hrs is her standard working day, so unless so only had part of that as leave it shouldn't make any difference. '

This isn' t correct, sorry. For employees who don't work full time, their A/L is calculated in pro rata hours, not days, so it is usually necessary to request A/L as a number of hours.

Doesn't alter your DDs manager being wrong though.

Lazy manager. But I think this is probably down to the way the manager is being managed too. From what I've read they don't have a great reputation as an employer.

I work in retail, this is highly illegal and totally the managers fault. I have no clue as to why the manger has done this! They are deliberately being difficult. Just bypass her and go straight to HR and get your DD to put in a grievance. They need sacking. It’s a basic job there’s no need to make it so difficult like this

If a worker booked 4 hours off “correctly”, what would stop the manager still rota-ing them on for a different 4 hours that day (so they can’t have the day as leave)?
eg worker book the day as 9-1 off but is booked to work 1-5 instead.

I would email the manager. Please can you confirm I have understood our recent conversation regarding my AL leave correctly , I was not paid for my last holiday as I imputed the day rather than the hours, the company will also not pay me now this error has been highlighted or allow me to book paid leave.
im a little confused as legally I’m allowed x days of paid holiday and I’m not sure I’ve understood you correctly as the company seem to be acting illegally by withholding my holiday pay .

Im sure someone can word it better . I found when dealing with a twat manager coming across “ stupid “ works . Oh Twat manager I don’t understand please confirm in writing so I have evidence to hold against you .

I would start with HR. Ask for clarification of the policy for taking leave.

She doesn't need to go about it in a confrontational way. HR exists to provide this guidance and to ensure things are done correctly.

Keep it factual, not personal.

Her advantage here is that it's a big company that will have policies. It's easier than in a cafe dealing with sole owner for example.

Because most are young and straight out of school., they do t understand employment laws and employee rights. These big companies take advantage.
And the manager is very unhelpful most of the time, she appears to have little time for the employees.

DD has applied for countess new jobs, our area has become very populated due to so many new builds within the area, very few jobs atm and hundreds applying for those advertised.

This is a form of bullying IMHO. I think HR needs to be told about your DD not being paid. Sounds like the manager is either spiteful or has made a mistake and not authorised the holiday.

This is what I find confusing. She agreed the AL requests but if DD hasn't been paid then surely that means the manager never put the leave through on her timesheet yet no one ever called to ask why she hadn't arrived for work that day. They were approved yet no pay.

Small claims court?

I think HR and senior management rather than immediate manager is the way forward initially. It sounds like her manager doesn’t understand how to check off leave.

Every time there's a thread on here about someone getting screwed over in a low paid job, it fills up with posters saying, "this is totally standard in the retail/childcare/care industry" and "that's the way it is and you can't do anything about it" and "you/he/she should have been better organised, better luck next time". There was loads of it yesterday on the thread about the nursery refusing the OP's daughter half a day's annual leave with 3 months' notice so she could take her driving test.

I honestly think that people in the UK are conditioned to accept shitty treatment, thinking they're lucky to have any kind of job.

That's why it's important to try and nip it in the bud as early as possible by teaching 17 year olds to know their worth and know their rights and not accept shitty and illegal treatment by their employers. It sounds like the OP's DD's colleagues have already internalised the idea that sometimes shit happens and you don't get paid money you are owed and there's nothing you can do about it.

And then you end up with the same people in their 30s and 40s posting on Mumsnet about how they do loads of unpaid overtime, or how they haven't had a pay rise in 15 years and now take home significantly less in real terms than they did at the beginning of their career and that's just how it is.

It's shocking really.

@MissScarletInTheBallroom do you have the link for that nursery thread pls?

This

Not for this matter

This is right.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5396352-dd17-work-wont-let-her-book-some-time-off-for-her-driving-test?page=9&reply=146612952

Can I suggest your daughter considers joining a union? They may not help with this issue straight away, but she will have support in future if she has further problems.

I totally agree.

It's a case of once bitten etc for me, I was treated this way at that age and I won't let them treat dd this way.

One of her colleagues left a month ago, he had taken 3 weeks unpaid AL and they never paid him.

He can still get paid. They all can. They just need to be willing to do something about it!

And did he do anything about it?

This is what I can’t understand.

Yes, I cannot get my head around losing three weeks of pay illegally and not kicking off big time until it was sorted.

It's not as if people working in retail for minimum wage have money to burn.

If the exact same issue is happening multiple times and everyone knows about it

why not be especially careful in how you complete the system annual leave submission and stipulate hours