13 replies to this topic

[Dolly 89]

right i have been working for a while now and have come across a little problem, i was working on day shift for 3 months of this holiday year but switched to night shift, i had some holiday in the first week on night shift that i booked whilst on day shift, does anyone know if it is right that this holiday is paid at day rate? my employer is saying because i started earning my holiday entitlement on days it is paid at day rate, I think this is wrong, why should i have to loose out for taking a holiday? does anyone know the laws regarding this?i have had a look on the internet and couldn't find anything

[sonikk4]

Do you get paid a shift allowance?? if so then even if you booked it while you were on days and then moved to nights you should still get nightshift premium. However i would look at your employment contract with regards to this. It should tell you what you are entitled to.

Some companies only pay holiday pay at a dayshift rate but again this will be outlined in your employment contract which you should have got a new one for changing shifts.

[Dolly 89]

we get paid holiday at the same rate as a normal working day so because we work nights we get more than days, i was hoping someone would know where to look to find a regulation regarding this so i can go to my employer with it as they owe me nearly £50 but if what they say is right when i moved onto day shift from nightshift last year i should have had my holidays paid at night rate which i wasn't, i haven't told them this yet as i am trying to gather as much evidence as possible before going to them

[sonikk4]

Did you sign a new contract for going on nights or receive a new contract?? The reason why i'm saying this is that by law you should get one when changing to a different shift pattern.

Every time i have changed shifts whether voluntarily or forced (the company gave 3 months notice) i was given a new contract with regards to that particular shift pattern. On that was my leave entitlement plus shift premium etc.

[ibrooks]

Logically if you've worked a quarter of the holiday year on days then a quarter of the holidays you book in this year will be paid at the days rate and the rest at the nights rate.

Unless something has been written in black and white stating something else then I'd expect the logical/reasonable method to be what stands.

Iain

[Dolly 89]

Did you sign a new contract for going on nights or receive a new contract?? The reason why i'm saying this is that by law you should get one when changing to a different shift pattern.

Every time i have changed shifts whether voluntarily or forced (the company gave 3 months notice) i was given a new contract with regards to that particular shift pattern. On that was my leave entitlement plus shift premium etc.

no i signed a contract when i started working there on night shift, then changed to day shift but never signed a different contract, then i have just moved back to nights again so it is still my original night shift contract

[sonikk4]

So if you have the contract is there anything on it about shift pay and holiday??

[Dolly 89]

I had a quick look but couldn't see anything really that stipulates this but i will have a better look at the weekend when i am not knackered

[charie t]

mmmm contracts/holiday pay
so if you don't get holiday pay at all who do you tell/get involved?

[sonikk4]

mmmm contracts/holiday pay
so if you don't get holiday pay at all who do you tell/get involved?

Now don't quote me on this but in my industry (Aviation) over the years as a connine scumbag (contractor) we were never entitled to paid leave due to the temporary nature of our contracts.

However just recently the law has changed and now i believe that if your contract is longer than 6 months you are entitled to paid leave.

I have a feeling this was introduced in the building trade first.

[charie t]

if your contract is longer than 6 months you are entitled to paid leave.

I've been there for 18 months, so would say its longer than 6 month
CAB are useless

Edited by charie t, 25 May 2012 - 08:10 AM.

[sonikk4]

Have a look at this link

http://www.cw-constr...contractors.pdf

[ibrooks]

if your contract is longer than 6 months you are entitled to paid leave.

I've been there for 18 months, so would say its longer than 6 month
CAB are useless

But has that been on one contract or on several? We have a lot of contractors here and they are quite surprised when they get 12 month contracts because a lot of other companies have apparently taken to only taking people on for 6 months (or slightly less) so that they don't need to give them the extra benefits - they then offer the people they want to keep and further 6 month contract at the end of the first contract. I think they need to let the initial contract lapse and wait a couple of weeks before the second one kicks in to avoid them legally becoming one contract. Either way there are loopholes that employers can use to get around the new laws that supposedly give contractors the same rights as permanent employees.

Iain

[Dan]

All workers (workers, not employees so it doesn't matter if you are a contractor or not) are entitled to paid holiday, nomatter how long they work for. It's in the European Working Time directive and has been the law for years but many industries try to ignore it. I am self employed and work on daily contract usually, since companies can't be expected to give me holiday on a daily contract I charge additional money on top in respect of holiday. There are two allowances for holiday, depending on if you are required to work bank holidays or not, in terms of weeks per year so I charge the appropriate percentage to match that. There are no loopholes, employers just like to tell people there are. It is illegal to quote a rate of pay that would include holiday as your employer may not assume you will not take any, but that is one trick they try often. My union took several cases of this kind of thing to Europe when the employers first started trying it on as the laws came in, and it got stamped out. There was only one field of my work where we didn't see a direct increase in pay as a result of the Working Time Directive and that was because the union had already secured us a holiday credit in those contracts previously.

Dolly89 personally I would say your holiday should be paid at an aggregate rate calculated from 1/4 of a year at day rate and 3/4 at night rate. This will work out the same however as taking 1/4 of your holiday at day rate and 3/4 at night rate. So if you haven't taken more than 1/4 of your entitlement at the day rate your pay will be right.

Edited by Dan, 27 May 2012 - 12:05 AM.