How do I explain pro rata holiday entitlement to my boss??

[mamiguay]

just that really. I work some months full time and some part time and only get holidays when I am full time. She doesn't think I should get holidays when I am part time as, well, aren't I on holiday all those days I'm not working??

from direct.gov

Scroll down a bit to this:

Holidays
All workers have the right to a minimum amount of annual holiday. From 1 October 2007 the statutory minimum entitlement is 4.8 weeks holiday a year, based on your normal working week. For example, if you work:

20 hours a week, your statutory holiday entitlement is 4.8 20-hour weeks
three days each week, you have the right to 14.4 days' holiday - that's 4.8 weeks of three days each
Many employers give more than the statutory minimum amount of holiday. Under the regulations part-timers should be treated no less favourably; this normally means that a part time worker will get a pro rata proportion of what the full-time workers get.

Your employer can't round down the number of days given, because this would be unfavourable treatment, but fractions of a day might be given as hours.

Your employer can control when you take your holiday so they can make you take bank holidays from this entitlement when they coincide with your working days

ooh, dear, sounds like she is a bit stupid misguided!

there is information on holiday entitlement on the direct.gov website, but basically everyone is entitled to 20 days (or is it 25 now) and although your situation is a bit more tricky to work out as you have irregular weekly hours, I'm pretty sure your holidays would be pro-rated over the full year.

I guess it depends on what you're being paid for when you work part time. Does your boss pay you say to work 20 hours a week but you actually work 17 hours for example?

If she argues you're on holiday when you're not working point out that holiday is paid - and if she wants to view the time you don't work as holiday then she better start paying you!

Actually it might just be easier to get an annual hours contract and base your leave entitlement on that rather than chop and change depending on whether you're on a full time or part time bit of the year.

ooh thanks for the link, that should help. She is very misguided in matters of HR, she just doesn't deal with that kind of thing but unfortunately no one else does either so it's a kind of fight-for-what-you-can-get kind of scenario.

I don't have a contract, I am freelance but it is a technicality in favour of the company and she has always otherwise been prepared to extend me the same rights as if I were on contract.

Of course I know this means I'm not ACTUALLY entitled to anything but she is pretty reasonable which is why I'm looking for cold hard facts to show her.

Thanks!

arggggg - get a contract! You can look at the direct gov site for a template. Technically what she is doing is unfair, but if you were ever to contest that it would be hard to prove.

Isn't it a 13 week average of the last 13 weeks?

business link have a very handy calculator for employers