Hello and a big thank you to all for bothering to uphold such a resourceful website.

I have recently requested holiday pay from my employer only to be told that I was not entitled to it as I am working under a 'zero hours contract'. Its a food service position and I don't remember signing any contract when I began working for the business but I work full time hours.

Can anyone give me the official line on where I stand as regards my entitlement to 'holiday pay' under such a 'contract'???

Hope you can help,

Mary S

Hi there & welcome to CAG.

To be honest I've never heard of a Zero Hours Contract! However, every employee is entitled to holiday pay - even if they do not have fixed hours or work the same hours every week. Your employer should take an average of your hours over the previous 12 weeks and that will be your holiday pay entitlement.

You should also have been issued with your terms and conditions of employment i.e. hours and rate of pay etc, within 2 months of starting the job.

You might find the following line useful:

Holiday entitlements: taking your holidays : Directgov - Employment

and I would point your employer in that direction as well!!

Please let me know how you progress.

Kind Regards

Ell-enn

PS I have asked for your thread to be moved to the Employment Section

Thread moved to employment forum

Many many thanks,

I'll let you know what happens.

yes please, I would love know what a zero hours contract is

Zero hours contracts are fairly common. My wife is a Home Care Worker and has one. It basically means that the employer is not obliged to give you work and in turn you are under no obligation to do the jobs requested. It suits her (our) family situation. She actually works around 30 hours per week, but can throw back a particular job if it doesn't fit what she is doing, or can take time off at relatively short notice to cover childcare etc. Different employers use them in different ways - in my wife's case reasonably sensibly, but in the past unscrupulous employers used it as a means by which they only paid for work actually done. For example, a restaurant might employ three staff and not know how busy a particular night was going to be. He would therefore have the three staff 'on call' in a rest room unpaid until it got busy enough to bring them out to serve.

Your employer is absolutely wrong to deny you holiday though. Your rights are exactly the same as everybody else's and you must be permitted paid holiday on the basis of the last 12 weeks' work. Whether an 'employee' or a 'worker' (naturally if you are self employed that is different!), this builds from the first day that you start work. Presumably the person you work for pays you and deducts tax and National Insurance? You need not have a formal Contract, but should be provided with a written statement of particulars within 8 weeks of starting. This should set out the basis on which you are working. Terms of your contract may be 'implied' if not specified in writing, therefore although your contract might not specify the number of hours which you work, it may be customary that you do a certain number each week. Implied terms are every bit as important as written ones in most respects.

Quite how you approach the subject again is another matter. I would ask again and tell your employer that you have taken advice on the subject of holiday as you couldn't understand why you didn't qualify. Ask why specifically he doesn't think that you qualify, and ask for this in writing if needs be. Providing that you have worked sufficiently to calculate an average working week, you should know what you are entitled to.

My wife's company operate on the basis of x hours holiday for every x hours worked, so it is quite easy to keep tabs on.

Some companies include holiday pay in the hourly rate for zero hour contracts but this should be included in your contract if thats the case. I am not sure if its legal but I used to be in that situation with a very large company working for a local council so theres a good chance it would be legal.

Some companies include holiday pay in the hourly rate for zero hour contracts but this should be included in your contract if thats the case. I am not sure if its legal but I used to be in that situation with a very large company working for a local council so theres a good chance it would be legal.

It's been illegal since 2002 (I think that's the right date)

I did leave about then so you are probably correct!

Some companies include holiday pay in the hourly rate for zero hour contracts but this should be included in your contract if thats the case. I am not sure if its legal but I used to be in that situation with a very large company working for a local council so theres a good chance it would be legal.

I think that this is considered as 'rolled up pay' which was deemed unlawful in 2006. The rulling determined that holiday pay has to be paid at the time the leave is taken, not aggregated throughout the year.

Hi there & welcome to CAG.

 

To be honest I've never heard of a Zero Hours Contract!

Ellen, its basically a fudge, designed to show that (should a future issue occur) the employer can prove there is no mutuality of obligation. Chances are this is a contract for services rather than a contract of employment (on paper at least).

This is (in my view) a good example of where a tribunal would imply that there is another employment contract, where the commercial reality is that x hours per week are worked.

To Albert - can you check your payslips/documentation, and see whether there is anything in there about whether holiday pay is included with the hourly rate. As others have said, this is illegal now, but many employers still do it (notably agencies).

Slightly off topic, but only slightly.

My sister-in-law is a student with a part-time job at a clothes shop on a zero hours contract.

The company have now taken to some pretty strange tactics to get rid of her. Firstly, they cited the lack of one of her references (despite never mentioning it to her before saying she would have to leave).

Secondly, they contacted her to say that they would have to let her go because of the credit crunch (nice easy words to throw around!) so would she mind writing a letter of resignation.

Does anyone know where she stands in all this? I presume as it is a zero hour contract they are not obliged to give her any work, but cannot understand why they are actively seeking her resignation.

Cheers

Secondly, they contacted her to say that they would have to let her go because of the credit crunch (nice easy words to throw around!) so would she mind writing a letter of resignation.

she should tell them to go forth and multiply in a series of short jerky movments if they want her to resign.

if she writes a letter of resignation then she is considered to be giving her job up, if they want to sack her they will have to do it themselves, not get her to do it for them.

Does anyone know where she stands in all this? I presume as it is a zero hour contract they are not obliged to give her any work, but cannot understand why they are actively seeking her resignation.

 

Cheers

how long has she worked there?

a "zero hour" contract usually means that someone is employed on an "as and when" basis, so they have no set working hours, but instead are offered work when it comes up, which they are normally entitled to refuse if they arent able to work those hours.

For example, if she is a student and they offer her 2 hours work which clashes with a class/lecture, then she is perfectly ok to refuse the work.

The employer cannot demand a resignation, if she is still wanting to work but they want rid of her, then they have the following options:-

1) Redundancy

If her position is surplus to company requirements, they could begin redundancy proceedings

2) Dismissal due to gross misconduct or some other disciplinary reason.

If she has done anything which constitutes a sackable offence (theft, not coming into work, not doing her job properly etc), then once the disciplinary proceedure has run its course they could sack her if its warranted

Of course, if she hasnt completed at least 12 months service then they are allowed to simply end her employment there without reason, which is pretty crap but allowed nontheless.

The right to paid leave comes under the Working Time Regulations. It applies to virtually everyone apart from the self employed, or those working as limited companies. I believe the WTR are enforced by the Health & Safety Executive. Another good website to look at.

Also giving payment instead of paid leave is illegal. Payment can only be given if someone leaves employment and has accrued holiday but not taken it.

Rolled up pay was made illegal some time ago.