Holiday entitlement...

[BellaTata]

I have just started a new job, working 40 hours a week, Monday afternoon - Thursday evening. In my contract it says I get 24 days paid holiday, excluding bank holidays. I am wondering how many days I am entitled to after only 3 months of work? My boss has given me a week off already 3 1/2 days, but am I entitled to another 3 1/2 days?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA

First calculate minimum annual entitlement:

5.6 x 40 = 224 hours.

If you work the same number of hours each day, then each day uses 10 hours, so minimum number of days = 22.4
However you are not working the same number of hours per day, as you mention 3.5 days. So look at the hours worked, not days.

Your holiday entitlement in contract is 24 days, so how is that calculated given you don't work the same number of hours per day? Would probably have been easier to state entitlement in hours. Too late now but maybe something to change at a contract review.

"excluding bank holidays" - so does that mean you need to take any bank holidays that fall on a working day as part of your annual leave?

Having worked for 3 whole months, you would be entitled to take up to 1/4 of the annual entitlement. So 1/4 of 224 hours = 56 hours.

In the past 3 months there have been several bank holidays. If those fell on a working day then you may have taken them as annual leave. If they did not fall on a working day, then you can ignore them as they do not count for your holiday entitlement.

December 2013 Bank Holidays:
25 and 26 December. These were a Wednesday and Thursday.
So assuming you did not work them, then as they are on your usual working days you would need to deduct the hours you would have usually worked on a Wed and Thurs from your holiday entitlement.

You have already taken a 3.5 days off... when was that? Was that over xmas and thus already accounts for 25/26 December?

Jan 2014 Bank Holiday: 1st Jan.
This was a Wednesday. If you did not work it, then the usual working hours needs to be deducted from your entitlement.

So hope that helps you work it out.

If you want us to help work it out, we will need to know exactly how many hours you work on each day and if those hours are the same every week.

Hi Nick, Monday I work 4 hours then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I work 12 hours. I started at the beginning of the year and took 40 hours off last week (3 full days and 4 hours). Yes the hours are the same each week. Am I right in thinking I should be owed a few more days during this three months?

Tia

Why are you looking at 3 months? Holiday entitlement is done over a year. Some methods of holiday calculation use the accrual method whereby you can only take holiday when you have worked enough, but I doubt many nanny employers use that. More common in my view is to see it as being an annual holiday entitlement and to factor in days the parents know they won't need nanny to work, such as pre-booked holidays.

Have you put in a request for time off and had it denied?

If you started at the beginning of this year, depending on the exact date there may be no bank holidays to take into account but there will be some coming up later.

Only you and your employer know the exact dates involved, so you need to calculate things yourself. You could say that you have 24 days, so in a 3 month period you have 6 days you can take, but it is not as simple as that... as you may use more days later on, such as Easter, Summer, Xmas.

I am not enjoying my position so I am looking to leave after 3 months, sorry should have said before. And I would rather take my holiday whilst I am working rather than be paid for the extra days after I have left.

Tia

Look at the exact dates involved, so start date and your predicted end date. Calculate total working hours.

Multiply total working hours by 12.07%. This is used to calculate holiday for a casual worker.

So if you have worked 12 whole weeks, then 12 x 40 hours = 480 hours.
(480 / 100) * 12.07 = 57.936
So you can take 57 hours holiday but taking more than that may put you in a position of taking too much.

You have taken 40 hours, so if end date is 12 weeks after start date, you have at least another 17 hours to take.

However your entitlement of 24 days is more than statutory minimum and without knowing how that is determined, hard to know to how calculate correct entitlement for a specific date period.

Talk to your employer. They may or may not be able to let you take more time off at this time of year.