Zero hour contract and holidays

[nellytheelephant1980]

I've just accepted a zero hours contract (suits me perfectly as a top up to my normal salary to cover extra bills etc).
I am just wondering about annual leave as we've got 2 holidays booked over the summer (totalling 2 weeks)

On a zero hours contract can I just go on holiday without worrying and say I'm unavailable that week?

Thanks

Well I would still tell them asap that you are unavailable that fortnight.

Yes, let them know now though. And keep evidence that you’ve told them.

Do you get holiday pay? You would usually book holiday and be paid two weeks of your average wage.

Zero hours contract doesn’t get holiday or sick pay.

You are still legally entitled to holiday pay, sometimes paid as an extra % on your hourly rate (I think 8% but don't quote me on that), sometimes accumulated into a holiday pay "bank".

Technically you're not obliged to work, just as they're not obliged to give you any hours, but most places would ask you to book the time off you want.

That's not true. Annual leave accrues based on average hours; and SSP is based on earnings not the type of employment contract.

Where I work the zero contract workers get a slightly higher hourly wage to take into account leave/sick pay. They do not get holiday or sick pay.

You are still legally entitled to holiday pay, sometimes paid as an extra % on your hourly rate

Rolled up holiday is illegal in almost all circumstances in the UK. That isn't to say that some places ignore the law, but they shouldn't.

That is also illegal. Are you sure that they aren't contracted workers (self-employed) rather than zero contract?

www.e-days.com/news/zero-hours-contract-entitlement#:~:text=Like%20most%20workers%2C%20zero%2Dhours,long%20as%20they%20are%20working.
www.brighthr.com/articles/contracts/agency-worker-rights/zero-hours-contract-sick-pay/#:~:text=Sick%20pay%20criteria%20for%20zero,tell%20you%20within%20seven%20days.

Sorry - those links went wonky - the first shows how holiday pay works and the second is sick pay.

No. I used to be one, that’s why I know it works that way.

Zero hour contract staff get annual leave entitlements

Sorry but you really don't know how it works. I've provided links to the law. You know better than the law?

I think we might be doing the rolled-up holiday thing - we use an expert for between 1-3 hours a month, the client insists on us payrolling them - so we converted their hourly rate to a paye rate with of course pretend holidays but the reality is this guy works and goes on holidays on his on own back - he doesn't consult us. He works for other clients too - how can we insist he takes 28 days off when he only works 80 hours a year max for us. God damn IR35 has made things a bit complicated - he's genuinely not an employee but the client won't take the risk so we had to put him on zero-hours contract. Think I might need to seek out more advice on this.

Yes I found this as a zero hours Hotel Receptionist over a summer in 2019.

I would tell them asap about your availability OP - my ‘summer’ employer preferred to pay holiday hours rather then have me take them as that was the whole point of working a busy summer. I was effectively the back up for perm staff who wanted their leave…..

There are some limited circumstances where rolled up holiday pay is acceptable, so you may be ok. I am just not expert enough to say with certainty where you can and where you can't. But I know that there is a clause that means that if there is a break of a certain number of weeks (I think it's 4 but don't quote me on that) between assignments then the "employer" can just pay the owed holiday pay (and show it as such on the payslip).

PS. I did just check and it isn't legal BUT if the holiday pay is clearly and separately shown on the payslip and not included in the hourly rate, then whilst an employer is technically breaking the law, the risk is minimal. The risk to including it in the hourly rate rate is that if they go to a tribunal and claim holiday pay hasn't been given, the tribunal will likely agree and order holiday pay to be made, even though you may think you've already paid it in the hourly rate. If you are clearly paying holiday pay then you'll lose but probably just get a slapped wrist. What the law says is that holiday pay should be paid at the time holiday is taken. So that is the default position.

So we pay holiday when they have accumulated a period of time - so it is not detailed in their hourly rate but our payslips do not detail holiday pay. Our timesheets do though and maybe that's the easy thing to change. This system is a bit of a joke - these guys often have 5 different jobs going on at the same time - no one is exploiting them - they pick and choose their hours and are paid an obscene hourly rate.This is one of the big failures of IR35.

It may well be - but the law is the law whether it works or not! And to be fair, it's based on the circumstances of the majority, and can never cover all bases.

I have a zero hours contract with a PS employee for 2 or 3 days a month. It should really be a freelance contract but due to IR35 they designate me an employee. I get 8% holiday pay added every time they pay me for some work to cover holiday pay

I agree that zero hours workers ARE entitled to holiday pay. The holiday pay should be clear and transparent and most importantly it should allow the worker to actually take time off from work.

But in terms of the OP's question a lot will depend on the terms they sign up to/the procedure for allocating work.

Zero hours means there is no obligation on either side to provide work or be available. However most workplaces offer hours at particular intervals. My daughter gets her rota once a month, she has to tell them before the rota is issued of any dates she is unavailable for and whether she wants to book them as holiday or unpaid.

Some workplaces issue weekly or fortnightly rotas. Some will have regular/expected hours or some will be totally flexible. I would play it safe and inform them of your unavailable dates ASAP.

Sleepyboydog.

I used to employ someone for 3 hours per week on zero hours. I calculated their holiday pay and paid it to them in lump sum three times a year in August, December (Christmas) and March/April to co-incide with times we were closed so they were definitely not working.

A friend of mines student son was denied holiday pay on a zero hours contract in a local bar. Unfortunately for them his Dad is an employment lawyer
So now they have had to pay him, including back pay and interest

I have a zero hours contract with a PS employee for 2 or 3 days a month. It should really be a freelance contract but due to IR35 they designate me an employee. I get 8% holiday pay added every time they pay me for some work to cover holiday pay
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Well there isn’t anything lawful about that then! Which is why employers need to be very careful. Statutory holiday is 12.07% of hours worked – not 8%. So they are underpaying you AND breaking the law. And if the amount paid for holiday isn’t separately listed then they have no evidence as an employer that they are paying you anything at all for holiday, so you could go to a tribunal and claim the full 12.07%! It is STILL illegal to pay it this way – rolled up holiday should not be done at all, full stop. But if the employer did pay it correctly and transparently then the tribunal couldn’t let them off the hook, but there would probably be no award made given that they could show that they had paid the correct amount.