6 hours contracted, work average of far more. Will I only get paid 6 hours holiday. And should I request they revise it??

[LuckySeventhWave]

Started a new job. It was advertised at 6 hours so I just thought oh it will be a weekend day that’s fine I can always get another job to make up the hours.

I’ve actually been working 3 shifts week at the moment around 18 hours and someone has just left and another going on maternity, so instead of advertising for someone to replace them, they’ll be adding hours onto my rota.

That fine with me means I get more hours, but partner also suggests it means when I book holidays/time off I’ll only be paid for the 6 hours a week I was employed on.

Is it unreasonable to suggest to manager if I’ve been working an average of 18 hours, or 30 hours, or whatever a week, that I should be paid that average for holiday pay?

It’s retail, fairly well known company, but they flout a few health and safety laws it seems, and manager would be scared to pass this employee request about holiday pay above her as I know she’s working silly hours to impress management above her at moment.

I’m on a zero hour contract and holiday pay is always the average amount of hours I work in a week

Interested to hear answers to this OP as when DD was 18 she was contracted 5.75 hours (Sunday shift) at a well known shop. She often ended up doing more like 16/18 hours a week but she only ever got 4 days paid holiday which was apparently calculated on her 5.75 hours a week... We never really knew if this was right or not

DD had a Christmas temp job last year. I think her contracted hours were 8 hours per week, but she worked loads more than that.

I work 15 hours contract but generally do 20 plus ATM holiday is given as 15 hours a week or if I have 1 day holiday I get 3 hours pay as my contract is over 5 days.

Are you paid for the extra hours you work? Are you paid hourly?
If so I would expect your holiday entitlement to be worked out on hourly basis rather than days, and your extra hours should be counted, possibly on a average basis
beta.acas.org.uk/checking-holiday-entitlement/calculating-holiday-pay
Acas or CAB can help you work it out.

@Flibberty

I’ve only been here since mid October, my first payday isn’t until end of November so don’t know payment details at the moment.

I’m paid NMW monthly.

It’s an outdoors retail shop.

Thanks for the link I’ll have a read.

When I used to do payroll, holiday pay for PT staff was averaged from the hours over previous 13 weeks. I had a spreadsheet and everything! This may have changed in the last couple of years.

I'm hourly paid and although only contracted for 8 hours a day when I get holiday pay it's always my average number of hours per day I'm paid. Generally 8.75. I assume this must be the legal requirement because we only get the bare minimum for everything.

Your contract will state your holiday entitlement OP. The standard will be that you'll be paid for your contracted hours only, you won't be accruing time in lieu whilst working overtime unless that had been pre-agreed, as you are already being paid to work the overtime, which you are choosing to do.

I'm a former retail manager and I don't think you'll get anywhere with this. Your manager will have absolutely no say in this and cannot 'just' pay you. There would be no facility to even do so IME. Adjustments as big as this to payroll, for no reason other than you've asked, are not likely to be within her remit, or even that of her manager.

I get why it seems unfair OP but yes YABU, you're doing elective overtime, unless your contract states otherwise it's set in stone. I wouldn't escalate this if I were asked to because (sorry to say) I think it would be laughed at quite a bit behind closed doors. If you want to ask your manager for advice or make the request to your area manager yourself then you can, but I can't imagine in a million years anything will come of it. If they paid you they'd have to pay everyone in the same boat. I think you should just be grateful you have the option of earning extra money- I can guarantee your manager is contracted as such that she will not be paid overtime at all, but will have almost no choice but to do a lot of it.

A much more reasonable request would be to request a larger contract in order to accrue holiday, if someone has left they may have the contract hours vacant to give, and also maternity cover hours. Otherwise look elsewhere for a job with a contract that suits your needs?

I worked in retail, 12 hour contract, routinely worked 30 hours plus but that was never taken into account when it came to holidays.

Retail is just shitty. Where I was flouted some H&S stuff as well.

I worked for the co-op years ago...3 hour contract.....but regularly worked 20 plus hours a week...my holiday entitlement was 3 hours a week...

Your employer is only obliged to give you holidays accrued from your contracted hours, not overtime. Any holiday awarded from overtime is a bonus, not a legal right

When my kids were smaller I used to have a very part time contract (about 6 hours per week), but used to end up working many more hours to cover others annual leave and sickness etc. Legally I was only entitled to holiday pay for the 6 hours on my contract.

The zero hours bank staff however were legally entitled to holiday pay for each and every hour they worked.

It's truly shit

Have a look on direct gov site. They should be paying you an average of the previous 12 weeks but retail jobs are notorious for not doing this!

This is from Acas, it's the same for people who do regular oveetime too.

www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay-the-basics

I worked bank so wasn't contracted for any, I did about 36 hours a week and my holiday pay was worked out on how many hours I'd worked

If you work irregular hours, the law states that your holiday entitlement is calculated on the time you actually work, averaged over the previous 12 weeks. Take a look at the gov.uk website here www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/holiday-pay-the-basics

I think this is why most employers give crap hours with flexible contracts.
So they can pay less in sick and holiday pay.
It's been the case in all the retail jobs I worked.
I worked in Tesco for 5 years and worked a Sunday as overtime the whole time I was there, I asked if it could be added as a regular shift so it could help me get a mortgage as my pay and contract would be higher, they said no as then they'd have to pay me for holiday or sick if I wasn't there and they didn't have it in the budget.

Might be worth you asking if your contract can be altered to reflect the maternity cover you’re doing. Then your leave entitlement will be calculated pro rata. Not an unreasonable ask if it’s your employer’s expectation that you’ll just pick up these extra hours.

Dontgobaconmyheart

I'm really sorry but you couldn't be more wrong. I know that retail are notorious for not following the law - however that doesn't make it right.
*
Working overtime will build up holiday pay. The latest in a series of rulings has now been announced. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that voluntary overtime is the same as other paid overtime* and must be taken into account for holiday pay.

The company I work for pay holiday pay at an increased rate based on the hours worked over the last 13 weeks so hopefully you would get an inflated pay rate

I used to work for the Co-op, although I got my hours as holiday, my payslip showed I was paid more per hour for holidays.

I'm on a 16 hour contract. Work closer to 24, sometimes more. My annual holiday allowance is worked out on total hours worked. However, when I take a week off, I only get paid 16 hours. It's worked out I've had 10 weeks of holiday to use this financial year. Would much rather they worked it so I got paid my average hours!

Royal mail do this too - holiday pay is only for contracted hours, even though there is a lot of pressure on staff to work extra hours every week. They no longer give full time contracts but expect staff to make up the extra. I think it's purely to save them money on holiday pay.