URGENT holiday entitlement advice needed (nanny)

[NannyBeth]

Ok, so I'm leaving my job on Friday and owe my boss some money (long story, is fine). However, due to her having a go at me for asking for money currently owing to me, we are now trying to work out my holiday entitlement...

She calculates it as 20 days plus bank hols, and the leave year as 1 Jan to 31 Dec.

My question is if I didn't take my full amount of holiday for last year before 31 Dec, what happens to it?? I know you can't carry it across (even though thats what she agreed to before christmas!) so does that mean I am owed money in lieu of any not taken leave, or does it just disappear?? I didn't take it as a) she wouldn't have approved the leave and b) she said I could carry it over...!

she wants to talk about it later today, help!

What does your contract say?

It seems standard to say in contracts that leave can't be carried over, and that if you don't take it, you lose it, i.e. you wouldn't be paid compensation for not taking it. But employers have to enable you to take your full entitlement during your leave year. So if she opted to let you carry it over instead of approving you taking it last year, then yes you should be entitled to it this year.

Generally if its not taken you lose it, and there's no entitlement to pay in leiu either. It will be in your contract.
Your leave year may not start in January, unless again its in your contract. Usually it starts from when you start your job ie if you start on July 3rd, your holiday period is the 52 weeks from July 3rd - next July 3rd.

my contract says it isn't to be carried over. however, when I booked holiday over christmas, we discussed it and she said "i don't mind if you carry those extra few days over this year", so I didn't book them off. now I've given notice and she's pissed off, she's saying I can't carry it forward??

I assume it was only a verbal agreement from her?

I agree that she should pay you for the carried-over holidays, because she said you could carry them over. But if she insists that she won't, its difficult to pursue it if it was a verbal agreement, because it's counter to what your contract says.

If the reason you and she agreed to carry them over was because it wasn't convenient to her (you said she wouldn't have approved it), then I'd push back by saying that she didn't enable you to take your full entitlement last year, which she is obliged to do as an employer.

karoleann - leave year is 1 jan to 31 dec, is in the contract

apuski - I didn't ask, because she said I could carry it over! I doubt she would have agreed to it though, as it's 3.5 days and when we worked it out we were then on a countdown to leaving ie super busy!

oh, and yes a verbal agreement (i stupidly didn't confirm by email, lesson learned!)

so if she denies saying I could carry it forward, is it worth fighting it? our should I just give in and pay? doesn't sound a lot but added to what I already owe them its adding up...!

Is she denying that she agreed to you carrying them over?

Oops, just saw that you'd covered that in your previous post. See how it goes - ask her outright if she is denying that she agreed to carrying over the leave. If she doesn't deny it but says I don't have to pay because of what the contract says, then you could say that you both agreed to carry over because taking it last year wasn't convenient . It might be that reminding her of her obligations as an employer means she backs down.

Good luck with it - you might have to take it on the chin, but no harm in pushing her on it.

Do you have a log of all holiday taken in 2011? Does that log show that there were days left in holiday entitlement that were not taken - how many days?

Have you taken any holiday this year (including Monday 2nd January 2012 - which was a bank/public holiday). If Friday (17 Feb) is your last working day, then I think you are entitled to 3.7 days holiday from the 2012 holiday year allowance. If you took off Monday 2nd January, then you are owed 2.7 days. So maybe you could write off those 2.7 days from what you already owe them. Have you come to an agreement with regard to the 2012 holiday year? Is it just the carry over amount from 2011 that is in disagreement?

I took 5 days leave in 2011 (2 bank hols, 3 days holiday) and 5 in 2012 (1 bank hol, 4 holiday).

I accrued 6.5 days leave in 2011, and 2.7 days in 2012, plus bank holidays.

so I have taken 1.3 days extra leave in 2012, but had 3.5 days owing from 2011 that my boys had said we could carry over. So either she owes me 2.2 days pay or I owe her 1.3 says pay... is that clear? is very complicated!

If holiday year had been from day you started, I wonder if you wouldn't be having this discussion. Ok so the contract says something different but morally I feel you probably have not taken all your holiday owed over the last 1 year period. Problem is, your boss doesn't want to look at it that way... is that right? They want to stick firmly by the terms of the contract and want payback for the excess holiday taken?

Yes, my boss is mad I have given notice so had turned from nice to stupidly rufus, ' forgot' we'd agreed I'd be paid more while away, and had niue ' forgotten' that she told leave could be carried forward... frustrated!

rufus = rigid.. smartphone!

I just quickly wanted to say thank you to everyone who replied! Am frying to talk to my boss about it today, so hopefully she will be reasonable! Thanks again

And the outcome was really.