Holiday and leave rights

Until the Working Time Regulations came in to force there was no legal right to any paid holiday in the UK.

 

The Working Time Regulations provide that employees and workers¹ are entitled to four weeks leave per year. If you normally work a five day week this means 20 days leave per year.

 

If your number of days worked per week varies, then your holiday entitlement is judged by looking at your average days/hours worked per week over the previous 12 weeks.

 

Bank holidays can currently count against the 20 day entitlement above, but thanks to union negotiations with the government last year, the government has promised to legislate so that eight statutory holidays become an additional minimum entitlement. It is not yet known how this will operate.

 

Currently there is no right to have bank holidays off at all, or to be paid extra if you work them (unions have succeeded in negotiating these rights for many workers.)

 

Holiday pay should include contractual bonus and contractual and guaranteed overtime. For more details see www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=806

 

There is no right to carry unused leave over to the following year – unless your contract provides for it.

 

Nor do you have a right for payment in lieu of untaken holiday – except when your employment ends – when you are entitled to be paid for holiday untaken but earned during the portion of your last year that you worked.

 

During your first year of employment you build up rights to leave in proportion to how much of the year you have worked. It is not lawful for an employer to ban you taking leave for, e.g. the first three months you are employed.

 

There is no legal notice period for applying for holiday, however employers are free to set their own policies. If you take holiday without approval under your employer's rules you risk being dismissed, as unauthorised absence counts as gross misconduct under many disciplinary procedures.

 

For details of Amicus' victory in getting holiday rights for offshore workers see www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-10291-f0.cfm

 

Whether overtime is compulsory depends on your contract of employment, although this is judged by 'custom and practice' as well as by written terms.

 

If your employer tries to force you to cancel holiday which they had previously approved this might amount to a fundamental breach of contract – however there is little you can do about it unless you feel forced to resign and then sue them for 'constructive dismissal' and breach of contract. This would be a risky route and you are strongly advised to discuss your case with a union officer or specialist lawyer before resigning. If your employer's cancellation means that you lose out financially you may have other legal remedies (including in Court) to cover those losses. You should set your complaints out to your employer in writing as a formal grievance as soon as you can.

 

 

The first step is to formally raise the complaint with your employer. If you are a union member your work place representative or officer can help you, using union guidance on grievances and how best to comply with the statutory grievance procedures which became law in 2004.

 

If the grievance does not resolve the problem you can enforce these rights by taking a claim in an employment tribunal. This must be done within three months.

 

Your union officer can arrange for a solicitor to take your employment tribunal claim if you were already a union member before the problem arose.

 

 

These rights refer to rest days and weekends, and are not part of the annual leave entitlement.

 

Most employees and workers are entitled to at least two days off in every 14 days, and are further entitled to a daily rest period of at least 11 consecutive hours in each 24 hour period.

 

Most employees and workers are entitled to a rest break of at least 20 minutes where daily working time is more than six hours.