AIBU or am I being deprived of holidays?

[Clarevoyant1]

I’m not sure if I am being done out of annual leave at work.

I work full time but do compressed hours, so I do 8-6 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays but I don’t work on Wednesdays. I started in this job with those hours 4 months ago. When I started my holiday allocation was the normal full time allocation. Our holiday entitlement is calculated in hours but you can only book days or half days, so the HR site shows your remaining allocation in days.

HR have suddenly cut several days from my remaining allocation telling me they made a mistake originally and failed to pro-rata my allocation. I told them it shouldn’t be pro-rata because I work full time, but they say because I only need to book 4 days off to have a week of holiday, it should be pro-rata.

AUBU or is this unfair? Surely if I work full time hours I get full time holidays? Or am I missing something?

Do you do the same amount of hours everyday?

No, it’s right. If you managed to fit your week’s hours into a single day then your way of calculating things would mean that you got to take more than half of your working year off with the standard 28 days leave.

It depends. When you booked a day off you were getting more hours off than most people. (You were getting 1/4 week, so the equivalent of 1.25 days). Did they take one day off your allocation or did they take 10 hours?

If you are booking a full day then you are using more hours than a Monday-Friday worker.
Does your new holiday entitlement work in terms of hours?

I do at least 8-6 every day but often work late to keep on top of things. It’s a salary job rather than hourly wage if that makes a difference.

I think that's wrong then..

As you'll still need, for example, 37.5 hours for a weeks holiday whether it's split across 4 days or 5?

My annual allocation has gone from 28 days (not including bank holidays) to 21.5 days

i think that’s right if it’s calculated in days, so you take 4 days leave but get a full week off, fully paid.
i think compressed or less than part time is usually calculated in hours to avoid this confusion. Check your bank holiday allowance too as that can be confusing with a change of hours.

You can't look at it as 21.5/28 days though as your days are different to other people

You need to look at the hours and the weeks to work it out

Looking at the days will just confuse it further

This is why I’m confused about it, because I need to book more hours off to have a day off (if that makes sense!) so surely I should have the same number of hours as any other full time person!

Check here and see what you should be entitled to https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement/y

We have some staff here on compressed hours and we find it easier to work it out based on hours than days.

Sorry, I have caused confusion: my entitlement is calculated in hours and time off is booked in hours but the HR webpage displays your ‘available to book’ section in days

Yes should be same amount of hours but not same amount of days..

When you request your holiday do you request it as a day or do you put 10 hours?

I worked compressed hours for years and my leave was calculated in hours rather than days. If calculated by days then you would end up with more leave than FTE as your standard day is longer if that makes sense

HR did you allocate holidays in hours as they would a part timer so you full time hours equal full time holiday allocated via the holiday chart in hours.

or if they insist on days you take 5 days holiday each week, booking out the Wednesday even if you don’t work it

I work full time, 4 days a week and when I'm on annual leave, I take 4 days off for a full week.

If you wanted to keep 28 days holiday, you'd need to request holiday for your non working day (Wednesday) too to equal a week off, otherwise you'd be way in front of your other full time colleagues.

So no, currently you are not being "done out of holidays", you are getting the same as everyone else, just spread of 4 days rather than 5 - bc that's how much you work. Does that make sense?

You should have the same amount of hours, but less days. Assuming full time is 40hrs pw ( 8hrs per day for 5 day week and 10hrs per day 4 day week) and annual leave is 30 days pear year. All full time workers would have 240hrs annual leave, meaning you'd have 24 days rather than 30.

Are you sure that you don’t have the same number of hours? You have fewer days but do more hours each day.

It depends whether you book your leave in days or hours. If days, then they’re right. If hours, you should get full hours allocation but you need to book more hours to get a full day off

You do need the same number of hours, but in half days and days, you need less

Over a 7 day week, you colleague would need to take 5 days to have the whole week, you would only need to take 4.

But they have more hours allocated to them than me, even though I have to book off the actual hours I usually work (e.g. 10 per day) to have that day as leave

I used to work 5 days compressed into 4 and my holidays were pro rata exactly like yours. Did you say you book holidays in days and half days? In which case you'd only need to book 4 days leave to get a week off.

This makes sense, thank you! I think therefore they are wrong, because I have to book the actual hours I work off but I have fewer hours allocated to me than other full timers

Your numbers of hours shouldn't change. But number of days should decrease.

So originally you would get 28/5= 5.6

So about 5 weeks and 3 days off

Now you are getting 21.5/4= 5.375.
So under 5 and a half weeks whereas before you were getting over 5 and a half weeks..

They have calculated it wrong.

And your hours that you are eligible to take shouldn't change. Though it will change how many days off you can have.

I used to work 3 days a week. And get 6 weeks leave so would get 21 days off.

But obviously if working 5 days a week,it would have been 30 days off.