Advice needed on working hours and holiday entitlement

[Pixie3683]

I have an HR query and don’t know who to ask for an informed and impartial opinion, so here I am!

For context I returned to work after mat leave doing 4 days a week of 7.5 hours a day and was entitled to 19 days holiday. Prior to mat leave I worked 5 days a week of 7.5 a day and was entitled to 24 days holiday. My little one started school in September and I changed my working pattern to accommodate so now work 5 days of 6 hours - effectively the same hours as before September (30 hours a week), but spread over more days.

As of January our holiday entitlement refreshes in the booking system and I tend to book the essential days off (to cover school holidays) at the beginning of the year. However my holiday calendar still says I’m entitled to 19 days holiday as this was the allowance when I worked 4 x 7.5hr days a week.

I queried this and the operations manager came back and said that as my hours haven’t changed the entitlement remains the same.

So I said the total weekly hours remains the same (30 hours a week), but I now work 5 short days, so the days the time is spread over has increased. So, instead of booking off 19 x 8hr days, I believe I should be able to book off 24 x 6hr days.

So, in simple maths terms
My 4 day working week: 19 x 7.5 = 142.5 hours holiday (this calculation makes me think I should have actually had 19.5 days holiday pro rata’d from my previous entitlement of 24 days)
My 5 day working week: 24 x 6 = 144 hours holiday

Does that make sense? Have I got this wrong? I don’t want my employer thinking I’m taking the mick, but equally don’t think I should only get 114 hours holiday, when up until Christmas I was getting 142.5.

HELP!

They need to calculate the holiday allowance in hours rather than days. You should get 4/5ths of those hours.

You still get 19 full days but now only need to use 0.8 days to take one 6 hour day off, so yes, you effectively get 24 x 6 hour days.

It would be easier all round if they agreed to calculate your holiday entitlement in hours

Your manager is wrong. You are right.
25+ years, chartered HR.
Ask manager to ring ACAS ... they will advise.

Do you get bank holidays on top? (as the legal minimum for a full timer is 28 days not 24 days).

Assuming you do, I work in payroll and you are correct.

If a full timer working 5 x 8 hour days gets 24 days holiday they are entitled to 24 days x 8 hours

A part timer working 5 x 6 hour days gets 24 days x 6 hours

Someone working 3 x 6 hour days per week gets 14.4 days x 6 hours etc.

Someone who works 6 hours one day and 8 hours the next needs to get their holiday calculated in hours.

PS, you should have had 19.2 days holiday before. They are not allowed to round down so should have rounded up to 19.5 days.

If the entitlement is in days then for each days holiday you book off you would only use 0.8 days. If it is in hours then it is much simpler. It isn’t clear from your post which it is, but your holiday entitlement (in hours) should not change if your hours per week haven’t changed.

Is it 24 days plus bank holidays? (28 is the legal minimum)
You should get the same number of days as full time workers but your 'day' will be 6 hours.

If its 24+8 then that's 32 days so that's 6.4 weeks worth of holidays that full time staff get.

You're therefore entitled to 6.4 x 30 hours = 192 hours = 32 of your 6 hour days.

She doesn't need it calculated in hours if she works the same number of hours each day. Her day will be 6 hours and she is entitled to the same number of days holiday as someone working 5 days of 7.5 hours

Surely it depends on your contract and whether your annual holiday entitlement is shown in hours or days?
Our holiday entitlement for full time workers is shown as 32 days including bank holidays and company shutdowns over Christmas/new Year. Usually gives us 20 days to use as we like.

If someone reduces their working week to Monday to Thursday they get 4/5 of the 20 days so 15.6. If someone works Monday-Weds its a different number than someone who works Tues-Thursday due to bank holidays. I always have to ask our HR company to double check as I get very confused!

@Comefromaway has hit the nail on the head

Pre-maternity you had 5 x 7.5 hour days making a working week of 37.5 hours
24 days leave x 7.5 = 180 hours

Now to allow for school time your 5 day week is:
5 x 6 hour days =1.25 days 30 hour week
To avoid discrimination of part timers you still have an entitlement of 24 days
(Your manager is right that there should be no change due to changing the hours worked per day - but the hours of a day changes)

24 days at 6 hours is 144 hours leave

When you changed to a 4 day week they appear to have rounded down

4 days at 7.5 hours =30 hours per week
But you should have had 19.2 days leave at 6 hours per day - which would mean that you needed to take more than one days leave for each day you had off

Because of the rounding it has been distorted and you have lost out on 1.5 hours in a year

((((This all assumes that you also had bank holidays to meet the statutory minimum - which again should have been adjusted for proportioned days))))

The manager is right that your number of leave days doesn’t change. But it needs to be retrospectively calculated to reflect a full 5 day week. You are entitled to 24 6 hour days

OP is working 5 days even though they are short days. This means she is entitled to the same number of days as those working 5 longer days. The number of hours will be different but the number of days is the same.

Thank you so much everyone. This is really helpful and will give me the confidence to fight my corner if I need to! You’re all amazing 🤩