Holiday pay taken away

[bill1980]

Hi,

 

Just after some advice on this one. Will try and keep it simple

 

Received a letter saying that I received £500 to much in holiday pay and that I needed to pay it back.

 

The mistake is due to the fact that I reduced my hours and subsequently they reduced my holiday entitlement without me realising.

 

I never signed a new contract when I reduced my hours.

 

I know if it was an over payment I would have no choice to own up and pay it back straight away. You can argue that the same principle applies that I should have realised I woudnt be entitled to the the same holiday pay on reduced hours but on the other hand I was never given a new contract detailing my new entitlement.

 

Where do I stand with this? As you can imagine for us thats a huge amount of money

 

Many thanks

 

Bill

[Sidewinder]

Have they actually taken it, or have you just been ASKED to pay it back?

 

The net result is the same, in that you are liable to repay it, but at least in the latter event you should be able to negotiate.

 

I think you would be hard pressed to claim that you shouldn't have to pay this back - it is, to all intents and purposes the same as a salary overpayment, and would be treated in law in the same way. You have already indicated that you should have been aware that both pay and holiday pay are dependant on hours worked, so a reduction in hours would result in a reduction in pay, and therefore paid holiday. The fact that you have not signed an amended contract would be an irrelevance.

 

The one possible glimmer of hope would be over whether the holiday accrued whilst you were working more hours, or has accumulated since you changed your working pattern? If the entitlement had built up when working full time for example, then the accrual should be based on that period.

 

If this is a clerical error over holiday accrued since the change however, then I fear that you will have to write and explain that you cannot possibly afford to repay the amount all at once, and propose some sort of schedule that you would be able to stick to which would repay the amount over time.

[Skinnered]

There was an oversight by both parties in not altering contract with new terms.

 

The was an error on their part in making an incorrect payment.

 

They are entitled to ask for this money back. You have a right to ask for it to be deducted from your wages over an agreed period at an agreed rate.