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.

Even if payroll answered my email it still gets referred to my manager to confirm the mistake.

yes. So the ball would be rolling on getting it rectified. Payroll would email your manager to confirm mistake; manager confirms mistake; payment made

@Returnofjude
my manager would also be very pissed off that I hadn’t followed company policy.
If I was 17 and replaceable I would be following policy .
Op has given the manager the opportunity to rectify her mistake, if no joy then you go higher.

Ah ACAS are brilliant. Isn't it amazing that such a service exists?

A manager has a duty to train their staff to complete forms correctly. A manager also has a duty to follow up pay issues. The manager seems shit.

So you think your manager would lie to payroll and say the DD should not be paid?

Are you the kind of manager who thinks everything is not your job, by any chance?

My manager would be very pissed off if none of my line reports knew what the fucking policy was because I had failed to communicate it despite knowing that multiple people had made the same mistake.

They would be even more pissed off if I had either deliberately or negligently misled my line reports to believe nothing could be done, rather than telling them to contact payroll and get the error fixed, because I would have put the company in breach of employment law and exposed them to the risk of legal action.

A person so shit at management is as replaceable as any 17 year old.

don’t line manager a soul thank goodness!

@Returnofjude
No I believe the manager is in the wrong . Op has sent an email to shit manager saying holiday was granted but pay was withheld . Op is telling the manager that this is illegal and can shit manager rectify . Two options make a back payment or re instate holiday . If shit manager can’t the next step would be to make it clear to shit manager that as she’s unable to help it will be escalated to HR / higher management.

Thank goodness indeed.

Firstly
I know at your company you can’t email payroll
but we don’t know at dd’s

my advice is that this would appear to be a payroll issue and so an email to payroll would be best bet

I know the DD is young however no where is there any requirement on an employer to make special dispensation because an employee is young

@Returnofjude
I can only go by how my payroll works, they input the hours sent by my manager ( no they won’t believe anyone saying I’ve been underpaid without checking with my manager)
Therefore only dealing with a manager. In my organisation we know and follow procedures, I have to follow the chain of command.
shit manager should of highlighted to ops DD that she hadn’t I submitted her holiday request correctly and trained her in how to do it correctly. Her manager is shit in not making procedures transparent.

I would still give shit manager the opportunity to put right her mistake if no joy take it further.

The only reason their age is relevant is that it meant they didn't know their legal rights when the manager fobbed them off with a load of bullshit about how it couldn't be fixed.

Yes it is relevant as to the why the DD hasn’t emailed payroll (not exactly sure if anything at all has been done at this point!) but beyond that and its implications on anything or anyone beyond the DD… well irrelevant

You don't even know whether emailing payroll is the correct procedure where she works.

A manager's job is to manage.

The clue is in the word.

If several of your line reports have done the same thing wrong, you make sure everyone knows how to do it right.

If one of your line reports has lost out on pay due to an administrative error, you either fix it yourself or you tell them how to fix it.

You don't do fuck all and shrug your shoulders repeatedly, because you either don't know or don't care that the company has a legal obligation to fix the error.

Even if it is a matter for payroll to deal with, you are creating extra work for payroll by failing to manage your line reports properly.

Just double check she had worked up the hours to entitle her to paid leave.

The manager is poor
yes
but the manager isn’t the gate keeper to HR

It should be as per the info currently on her app but we will double check.

In saying that she has barely been able to book any actual paid annual leave because of the issue at hand but also due to the fact the manager often doesn't approve DD requests, even when she puts them.in well in advance.

For example, I went on the app with her yesterday. We checked the rota hasn't yet been displayed for October, it hadn't. We looked at two dates during October which are white and therefore available (unavailable days are shaded in grey and you can not click on them), so DD chose these dates. The manager hadn't approved them but half hour later the rota was put up for October and the dates DD has chosen are now shaded in grey and her request rejected. This has happened several times since this new manager has started (as mentioned before, it was never an issue with previous manager). Seems DD will check the rota isn't on, will request an AL date and within a short time the rota gets put up and the AL rejected. I'm not sure how on earth DD is supposed to actually get any AL approved and at this rate she will definitely end up losing any leave actually legally owed to her.

It feels like an unnecessary uphill battle with this woman. I've never worked for such a place tbh, it's all baffling to me.

That’s incredibly frustrating, it looks as if she is deliberately blocking her taking leave.

it’s easier to nice to people than horrible, this Manager seems to be going out of her way to be horrible

i hate retail

That is awful practice @BobButtonsismycat jude will probably be along in a second to suggest your DD contacts IT or better still the app creator to prevent this from happening I know its great and important for young people to get part time jobs if possible, but I'd be questioning whether the £7.75 is worth stress and unpleasantness. Could she volunteer somewhere to develop new/different skills - for example small charities may need help with social media etc.

She's not well liked amongst the staff. I can see why.

Sounds like there's really no time like the present to report this manager to HR.

Regarding the annual leave she should just say that those dates were showing as available when she booked the annual leave and ask HR to intervene about that as well.

Yep, they really take advantage of young people. I worked in retail in the 80's/90's, never again.

I've begged DD to leave but she's adamant she wants to earn money whilst she's at college.

I've said she can leave at any time but she really wants her own money, she lives make up and fashion and I'm currently on carers allowance so have little funds to help her atm. Bit of a sticky situation.