Equal annual leave entitlement?

[steph0151]

Hi. I currently work in an office in Gibraltar with only one other female. We get 8 days less leave than everyone else. We have been there for 2 years and we were employed as receptionists at the same time but now do ALOT more than this as its a small office so we try and help out wherever we can. I recently asked why we (the only 2 females) get less leave than the others. I was told basically that its because we are the newest members (although we know that every single one of them started on 30 days leave not 22 like us! And they have all only been working there for 5 years max) and was more or less told to put up and shut up because we "have it good" we just feel like they are all part of the company and we are treated like temps! Is this legal?

We have that too and it is legal. Over time employment contracts have changed to be less generous. In our company rather than do a consultation process to align everyone to the same worse contract terms they are basically letting the old terms drop off slowly through natural attrition when people leave.

Even without that we also have a company reward where after 2 years you gain 1 extra day annual leave a year as a loyalty bonus up to a maximum of 5 additional days.

Essentially as long as the company meets any government minimum reqs for annual leave, you signed a contract a cepting what you were offered. You can't now argue that its not enough.

It's not legal to discriminate, so if you have reason to believe that the fact you and your colleagues are both female is the reason you have less holiday, that would be something to challenge.

But as long as there is no discrimination and minimum holiday entitlement is provided, it is lawful to have employees on different amounts.

Has anyone else joined the company since you two?

Yes another person has joined and he also has 30 days. He is at a senior level.

Hmmm a bit more questionable if people who joined after you are getting more

Difficult if they are senior. Managers get 5 extra days at my office. It's all transparent and available through written policy though.

And he might have negotiated the additional leave as part of his package - again, it's perfectly legal.

I have been at my job a year and get kess than people who have been there longer l. The people who get most are the ones that have been there over 20 years.

Their contracts gave more generous holidays and we have a scheme where you earn more holiday, the longer you have been there.

I get more holidag than people coming in an entry level, because my level does.

In my case i know its not discrimination as we have increased tge size of the operation in the last year so loads of people, of all levels, have started. The rules are consistant. Regardless of sex.

Your situation does sound like possibly discrimination but also has reasons that could be completely valid. As everyone has either been there longer or more senior than you.

Hmm it just bothers me that the one person that has been there for only 9 months longer than me also gets 30 days. Theres only about 3 people that have been there over 5 years the rest are only about an extra year ahead of us. I know we signed a contract but that was when we didn't know everyone elses leave entitlement. If its legal theres not alot we can do i suppose i just feel its unfair as we are a small company so to single out 2 employees who take on more work than alot of the others there is a bit unfair.

If you are taking on extra work, you need to see if you can get extra pay. Extra work is rarely rewarded with extra holidays.

It does seem unfair. But there is always a cut off when contracts change.

I had a contract where i has to work a weekend day and 3 bank holidays a year. People who had been there longer had mon-fri contracts and no bank holidays. Its just one of those things.

That said there maybe some dicrimination at play here. Maybe your gender or maybe they are twats who dont value the role you do.

Proving it, is a different matter.

Haha that is true! Thanks guys.