Holiday entitlement help

[PinglePongle]

I'm returning to work in October, my holiday entitlement pre maternity was 35 days inc bank holidays (full time)

Im returning back 4.5 days (half day wednesday)

My employer is telling me that I still get 35 days holiday but I will need to book a full day off for a wednesday. This isn't right is it?

I thought that I would be given pro rata days and would be able to book half day for a wednesday?

Can anyone help?

If they are giving you full entitlement for holiday leave then I can't see the issue? If they were only giving you the pro rata entitlement it would be 31.5 days and then you would book the half day. But if they are paying you for 35 days you would get more money surely?

no I don't get any extra money, I am just expected to use a full days holiday for the half day

This would work out fine in theory if I only ever took full weeks off but I planned to take a lot of Wednesdays off on my return and so I would be a lot worse off

Sounds like it would work

And if you never book a wendesday off you'll be quids in :)

This was my thoughts but it sounds ridiculous to me

Oh I see
Yes it seems like it'll only actually be fair if there's a balancr

yes and it works out a lot worse for me when I planned on taking most Wednesdays off at half days to get through my accrued holidays for childcare reasons

Anyone know the legal stance on it?

Get them to convert your leave into hours instead. This allows for more flexibility.

I think thats what she wants but they want to do it the other way.

Do I have any legal right to request it in hours?

You have a legal right as a part-time employee to be treated no less favorably to a full-time person, as this way it means that you would be adversely affected, you could state that to HR and just ask them to pro-rata (so 35 / 5 x 4.5) = 31.5 days and then you book a half-day for a Weds. Do they allow you to book half-days anyway?

No I don't think they're saying that. They're giving her the same number of holiday days but most of her days are fill days and Wednesdays are half days. If she always takes blocks of a week off it would be fairm

Yes Polar Bear is correct, I just feel a bit unfairly treated as taking the half days when I return is what I wanted to do and what was previously ok'd!

I think "unfairly treated" is taking it a little far Pingle. Your boss is being lazy with the holiday calculation, that's all, not trying to give you less holiday.

You are entitled to 31.5 days as Ellypoo indicates, with half a day needing to be taken on Wednesday. If you take the same proportion of Wednesdays off as other days, then leaving your calculation as 35 days would be fine, as you'd end up effectively taking 31.5 days which is the correct amount.

If you take fewer Wednesdays doing it that way gives you extra holiday over your colleagues, if you take more Wednesdays, you would end up with less, which is where there's a problem obviously.

For that reason, and for the sake of clarity as well, your employer should either do it in hours, or 31.5 days. Do you have HR where you work?

Yes its HR that are telling me that this is how it needs to be done, I think it's because our IT system only does full days that I'm being forced down this route

It seems highly unlikely that an IT system for administering annual leave can only cope with full days. Push them on it. Make it their problem to solve. 35 days is fine if you take exactly the same number of Wednesdays as every other day. But if you take fewer Wednesdays, it will cost them money. If you take no Wednesdays at all, for example, they'll end up giving you 35 days at full pay, which is more than you're entitled to. On the other hand if you take more Wednesdays, you'll end up having less holiday than everyone else on a pro rata basis which would constitute less favourable treatment because of your part time status, which is unlawful.

Ask them what solution they have to the problem that they'll be either risking a legal claim or will be paying you too much.

Are you the only part-time employee at the company?
Someone in HR should surely have come across this before.
Taking Monday as your day off (or half day) works well as most bank holidays (if you get them) are on Mondays therefore you get to use those holiday hours at another time.

Anyone working flexible days gets their al in hours at our work. Even if they end up working full hours, if they have short days it means they can do what you're planning.