holiday pay?

[stacijc]

I just left my job when my paid maternity leave ended on 14 August this year. I was under the assumption that i still accrued holiday and was entitled to that paid when i left....sure i read it in the handbook which i can't bloody find.

went for my wage slip and P45 today and there is no holiday pay.just the last SMP. This has left us mightily out of pocket(at least £200)

Theres no managers in this week(never is bank holiday week) and there is no one available to talk to at head office for a few days because of illness.

Whilst i dig out my handbook does it sound like i was wrong to assume i would get my holiday pay? like i said i think i read it in the book but until i find it i can't be sure.

You still accrue holiday pay whilst on maternity leave but it might vary between employers. I found the maternity alliance very helpful, there was also a maternity pay helpline I used. I'll check if I still have their number, I doubt I have as DS is now 3.5

The number is still on my mobile , its 08457 143143

oooh maternity alliance...thanks! forgot them, will have a look at their website and ring in the morning!

Hi there, holiday accrues for the ordinary maternity leave period only, i.e. for the first 26 weeks. This is in line with the Working Time Regulations.

As you have left employment the Working Time Regulations entitle you to payment in lieu of untaken statutory holiday entitlement that accrued during the current leave year.

The Working Time Regulations give you 4 weeks statutory holiday entitlement in each leave year. So, depending on when your leave year started (see your contract), when you leave part way through a leave year you are entitled to payment in lieu of the untaken holidays (which are pro rated to the proportion of the leave year you were still employed by them).

You may not be able to use these Regulations to reclaim any additional contractual leave that accrued during your maternity leave, or to reclaim any leave that you accrued during the previous leave year. This is because the Regulations only cover statutory leave entitlement AND they only relate to individual holiday years (i.e. do not allow carry over). So under this particular employment law, you will be entitled to a payment in lieu. Many employers would perhaps wait for an employee to ask - either out of ignorance of the law, or in the hope that the employee won't realise within the timeframe (three months)! I suggest that you put something in writing to them and request that they reply in a particular timeframe - say two weeks (let me know if you need any help). Whatever you do, don't let things stretch beyond three months from your resignation date. To enforce your rights, if they get awkward, you'd first have to put in a grievance before three months are up and if your employer didn't meet their legal obligations you could then put in a case to an Employment Tribunal (you can't go to an ET unless you have first taken out a grievance).

It is less clear where you stand in relation to any additional contractual holdays accrued whilst you were on maternity leave, or if you still have accrued holidays from the last holiday year that you couldn't take because of maternity leave. The problem is that the maternity rules were developed without really thinking through the implications of the holiday rights under the Working Time Regulations and as I've already mentioned the WTR don't cover carry over or additional contractual leave. However the maternity rules do state that you should accrue your normal holiday entitlement during the first 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity leave - but not what happens to this leave should you decide not to return to employment or go on maternity leave spanning two leave years. As far as I know, the maternity rules don't compel an employer to make payment in lieu of any additional contractual leave if this amount is more than the statutory accrued entitlement. Also, I don't think they compel an employer to make payment in lieu of holiday from the previous holiday year. Having said that, the maternity rules do leave the question open as there is a chance that an employment tribunal may rule that this woudl be discriminatory. So, many employers would just pay the accrued contractual entitlement simply because the maternity rules leave employers a bit in limbo as to what they should do and a lot of employers wouldn't want to end up being the test case to determine the entitlements in an employment tribunal! If you have any additional contractual leave or holidays left over from the previous leave year, you could therefore consider asking for them as well!

Hope this helps - let me know if there is anything I haven't explained properly

Sue