Zero hours and annual leave refused.

[Boopeedoop]

Hi.

I work for a subcontractor company to the NHS. I'm on a zero hours contract but been steadily working 75 hour weeks for several weeks due to covid.

I'm exhausted.

I put in an annual leave request and it has been declined.

I can however take the week off unpaid.

They said that there is no annual leave available until February.

I don't want a week unpaid, I want to take my accrued Holiday.

Can they refuse to pay me my annual leave when I'm on a zero hours contract?

When does your holiday year run from and to? It's odd not to give you paid holiday but to allow you the time off. They don't have to agree any individual holiday request but they do have to let you take your holiday in the right holiday year.

April - April.

So we set our own availability a month in advance. And they offer us work based on our availability.

They've told me the next available holiday dates aren't until February!

And yes, it's crazy that we can have the time off as long as we don't expect them to pay us. I'm pretty annoyed.

Do you work the same hours every week, if so you cannot be on a zero hour contract, zero hour means they can offer you work and you can refuse that offer, if this is not your setup and you work regular hours regardless of the amount then you cannot be zero hour, either way regardless of the contract position unless you’re self employed you are entitled to holiday pay the same as all other employees and the fact they say you can take a week without pay means they can clearly allow you to take a week off in which case it you should be paid if you have accrued days left to take

Presumably it’s a budget thing- having someone taking holiday would mean paying two people simultaneously and budgeting means there is no scope for that until February.

As long as you get your holiday entitlement you haven’t got any entitlement to force them to let you take it when you want to I’m afraid.

@user1471528245

Do you work the same hours every week, if so you cannot be on a zero hour contract, zero hour means they can offer you work and you can refuse that offer, if this is not your setup and you work regular hours regardless of the amount then you cannot be zero hour, either way regardless of the contract position unless you’re self employed you are entitled to holiday pay the same as all other employees and the fact they say you can take a week without pay means they can clearly allow you to take a week off in which case it you should be paid if you have accrued days left to take

So long as the OP is not obliged to work the same hours and the employer is not obliged to offer the same hours, this could still be a zero hours contract despite the hours being regular of late.

The employer is allowed to refuse annual leave, so long as they allow OP to take it before April when the AL year ends. As it is a zero hours contract, OP can take the week off as they are entitled to turn hours down but they cannot force the employer to consider and pay it as AL.