Holiday Entitlement for P/T workers

[CatThiefKeith]

I was employed two years ago to work Sat/Sun alternate weekends, and had 8 days holiday per annum.

In November last year I was asked to work Fridays, which I happily agreed to do, and in April this year whilst working out dates for a holiday I emailed the office manager to enquire whether I was entitled to any extra holiday since I had effectively doubled my hours.

I received a curt email back, saying "No. your holiday entitlement is 8 days as stated on your contract"

Thing is, legally everyone should get 5.6 weeks paid holiday - I am getting married abroad next year and ideally wanted a few days off before and a couple of days when we get back, but this takes up all of my holiday allowance.

Small company (15 employees), no HR department, where do I go from here? (Actual legal entitlement is 11.2 days according to dwp website)

Did your contract change when your extra day was added?

Am I right in thinking you are working 3 days, alternate weeks? Meaning it's an equivalent of 1.5 days a week? Then your holiday entitlement is 1.5 * 5.6 = 8.4 days. Also note that bank holidays are not automatic as paid leave. It can be part of your stutatry entitlement.

See
www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement

There's a calculator for irregular hour workers too.

But it seems you should be given another half day at least!

Unless ofc your 8 days are on top of bank holidays.

I work 15 hours per week & get 97 hours leave per year. This works out as about 6.5 weeks per year, which is what I would get if I was f/t and obv I get the bank hols too.

Yours seems very low, OP.

I would expect you to get the same holidays as a FT employee, pro rata according to hours. So if full time at your work is 40 hours per week, you should get 'your hours'/'full time hours' x 'full time holiday hours'. If bank holidays are laid for a full time person, then I would also expect you to get the same calculation's worth of bank holiday time too.

So, if full time is 40 hours per week and you work 12 hours per week (24 per fortnight), and the full timers get 22 days (176 hours) annual leave, I would expect you to get 12/40 x 176 = 52.8 hours annual leave. That would be 6.6 days.

Then do same for bank holidays, if full time people get bank holidays paid. You would then use this leave to book time off if your working day falls on a bank holiday.

It is best to calculate part time leave in hours, not days.

If you want to post your hours, full time hours, leave entitlement etc then I'm sure one of us could calculate it for you?

BTW I don't think you are unreasonable for expecting your leave entitlement to go up if you increase your hours!

Ok, to clarify, I work every friday, and then every other weekend, so one week just Friday, then the following week Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

I also cover during the week when someone is on holiday, (12 days so far this year - not sure if that matters)

I put my details into the calculator OneLittle kindly posted, as 2 days per week (which it is, on average) and it said I should get 11.6 days holiday.

How would you suggest I tackle this/

11.2, not 11.6, sorry!

Maybe they are considering the Friday to be overtime.

Try to talk to the boss, in small companies you usually get to chat to the boss on occasion. Aim to get the contract amended such that the Fridays becomes part of your contracted days, if you want to work every Friday.

Are the additional hours contracted or overtime?

I assume contracted, although I haven't had a new contract reflecting this. It is a permanent thing though, and I have being working every Friday since last November.

On further investigation, it would appear that all the staff get the equivalent of 4 weeks holiday, but according to the link above the legal reqirement is now 5? Does anyone know when the law changed? In fairness it is a very old fashioned office and it is quite possible that nobody has realised the law has changed!

My actual hours are very complicated, as they change when the clocks do!

Summer hours - 9-5.30 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Winter Hours - 9 - 5 on Friday and Saturday, 10-4 on Sunday.

Also, if a Bank holiday falls on my weekend, then I also cover the Monday. Tis very confusing, if anyone can help i would be very grateful!

Do the other staff get 4 weeks on top of bank holidays? Or inclusive? If the 4 weeks include bank holidays, then what your boss doing is illegal. I think given it's a small old fashion place, then a chat with the boss would be useful? Or if you feel uncomfortable about it, do you have a senior colleague that you trust and can have a chat about this?

Legal minimum is 4 weeks plus 8 days bank holiday. If it isn't contracted then you still have 4 weeks holiday you just won't be paid for the day's overtime you have been habitually working. I think there will be some precident somewhere for regular overtime becoming part of a contract but I'd suggest just asking for a new contract to reflect this change. They will then have to increase your holiday allowance to meet the legal minimum otherwise agree it is overtime and is therefore optional for you.