Company wants me to pay back holiday days.

[Mooshamoo]

I started in a job in November 2022. We have an online annual leave system .
At the start of January 2023, 21 days on our online system became available to me for me to take.

I asked my manager could I take two weeks off at the start of the year. I took the last week of January and the first week of February off. This was approved by my manager. I took them. I was then moved to a new manager. Which was the way the company worked. New starters were with one manager. After two months you were changed to another manager

The company was pretty abusive and at the end of February I decided to leave.

I left. I then got an email from my second manager saying I had taken more annual leave days in the time I worked there, then I had accrued. And that I have to pay this annual leave money back. It is 550 euro. I'm in Ireland. This is a lot of money to me as i am now in between jobs.

Can they do this. My first manager who approved the annual leave days, never told me that I did not have enough annual leave days to take. She approved them. She never told me at any stage that if I left the company that I would have to pay these annual leave days back. If I had known that I wouldn't have taken them .

Can they do this to me now?

OP just wanted to say that I completely understand how you could not know how this works.

My DH got his first ever monthly, salaried job last year at 38 (previously all weekly jobs). Amongst other things, he didn't realise that you weren't paid a 'month in hand', didn't realise breaks were paid, didn't realise overtime was NOT paid... All things that seemed like common sense to me but if you've never experienced them, how would you know?

I hope you manage to sort out a reasonable payment plan (and that your next job is much better!).

I've said several times that I did bring it up with them. I brought it to the attention of two managers that the workload was too high for me or any other member to ever take a single break.

I feel for you op.

Back in March 2020 when the first lock down happened I didn't have childcare when schools closed and couldn't work. I was in an industry that didn't furlough and I wasn't entitled to keyworker hub school cover due to a technicality.

I'd been at my company for 8 years and was entitled to a generous 7 weeks holiday a year, our holidays ran from April to March so I had non accrued when lockdown started. They told me I could use my holidays for the coming year to cover being off.

Id been there 8 years and had no thought that I might leave but once the 7 weeks was up I went onto unpaid leave, after 3 week unpaid I had no choice but to hand in my notice to receive benefits.

Obviously I ended up owing them for the 7 weeks holiday I had taken but not earned. I never knew I would be forced to leave, if I had the foresight I would have just left at the end of March.

It was horrible. I owed them over 2k.

20 pages on a thread that was answered on the very first page by multiple people.

It does read like you were trying to play the system and lost. Your OP was about holiday pay, which others have answered, but them you go on to say you quit on payday.
I think you just need to take it as a hard lesson learnt, get another job and move forward.
YABU

If they calculate it the same way I did, I think I owe them 1100 euro.

Well I'll just have to pay it and that's that.

Def learned to check what annual leave I e taken before I quit next time , If I ever quit again

Welcome to the internet. 😁😁

Why wouldnt I quit on pay day. It's the day that makes sense to quit on. I was nearly going to quit a week before as I was so beat down, but I said to myself just try and hang on until pay day.

Must be a slow day on Mumsnet today 😁

Yes, like 20 pages in and nobody knew the answer yet 😂

It sounds truly hideous there. My son worked in a very stressful environment and I can’t tell you the damage it did to his mental health. It might be obvious to many re the AL but many people will just assume the system wouldn’t allow it. Our system gives the exact amount of AL until the end of the leave year. If you did leave before then and had taken it all then yes you’d have to pay it back. Ask for a repayment plan, they can’t force you to pay it in one go

Because quitting on payday is a calculated move by someone not intending to fulfil their contract and work their notice, rather than someone who quit in the heat of the moment, not being able to take anymore.

Not really. If I quit the week before I would worry that they wouldn't pay me at all for that month. If anyone quits their job it's going to be on pay day.

Anyway I'll have to pay it back and thats that. Hopefully next job will be slightly better

I don't get why if you knew the week before that you were going to quit, you didn't just hand in your notice then.
It would have made more sense to hand in your notice the week before, work your week's notice, then have finished the payday week as planned.

Same thing but without the breach.

Lidl fucked me over like this when I left as they pay set contracted hours and if you have a shortfall for whatever reason. You have still been paid. I left after bigotry from management and yet they still wanted the money over paid. Even though I didn’t progress will taking them to court

Do you work for Eir?

I wasn't 100% sure the week before if I was going to quit . That's why. But yes in hindsight it would have been better

Let me guess- Abtran or Capita?

Young people nowadays cannot function in the work place, how can anyone think starting a job in Nov then leaving in February gives you AL of two weeks when you only get 3 weeks in 52 weeks of the year. My mind boggles!

Erm I think 3 years of working in a call centre (which I could prove with old payslips) might suggest you are wrong

If they are not paying op to work, then she doesn't work.

I'm not young. I'm not sure why if someone makes a mistake at work, people think they are young.
I make a dumb mistake and people automatically think that I am young. Why? Do you think that younger people have less intelligence than older people?
It's a bit of an insult to young people, no?

Gosh I can’t believe the pile-on here! OP sounds like she’s been essentially forced to do slave labour and everyone is trying to make her feel bad for quitting?!? No wonder we still have modern day slavery with attitudes like this!

lucky you lot who are all in a privileged position to not have to take jobs like this and not to have health issues in your family that mean you have to take time off unexpectedly.

OP, you have been treated appalling (both by your employer and by the horrible people on here). You almost certainly have an employment law claim for constructive dismissal. But I realise this would be very difficult to action.

For now, have a good cry, take a deep breath, and then make a plan of action for how to pay back the money and get a new job. Better days will come for you, I promise you that!

That was your answer then. I’m assuming Ireland has ways to redress things like this without breaking your contract.

The problem is you may have been treated unfairly (I’m still not actually convinced of the that), but you have essentially engaged in wage theft and are trying to justify it (to us…maybe yourself…who knows?) by citing the alleged bad treatment.

In the immortal words of my granny (and whoever she plagiarized it from) Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right.

You said that you could hang up on a call at 5.30. we are not allowed to hang up on any call or it leads to immediate dismissal.

So you worked in a better call centre than me.