Taking holiday at the right time can be difficult, especially when you work with a group of other parents who all want holidays at the same time. But what are you entitled to and can your boss say when you take your holiday?
Everybody is entitled to 5.6 weeks of holiday per year, under the EU Working Time Directive 1998. Now, 5.6 weeks is not to be confused with 28 days. The 5.6 weeks only equates to 28 days if you work 5 days per week. If you work 4 days per week, that is 22.4 days (most employers would round to 22.5 days). Legislation states that the 5.6 weeks can include bank holidays. Some employers offer 4 weeks plus bank holidays, but those who work part time and don’t work on Mondays could arguably lose out because you have no bank holidays to take. But can your employer deny your right to take holiday? Your employer has the right to refuse time off if their business could suffer as a result. For example, if there are 5 of you in the office and two are already taking the same week off, it is reasonable for an employer to refuse a third person. Similarly, if you work in an industry with seasonal highs, such as a boiler maintenance company where you may be overworked during cold weather and twiddling your thumbs in summer, the employer could refuse all holidays during that busy winter time. Furthermore, your employer also has the right to insist you take your holiday at a certain time. In this example, during summer is a good time whilst work is slow.
A holiday year is the 12-month period during which holiday is monitored for entitlements. This is often a calendar year, but may bea firm’s financial year. In the past, employees may have been paid for holiday not taken.
In other words, employees would ‘cash in’ their holiday. Another option was to allow employees to carry over unused holiday into the next year. However, the government realised this was happening and when they updated the EU working time regulations in 2000 and again in 2003 they stopped employers from allowing holiday to be cashed in or carried over.
Today, an employee can carry over their holiday entitlement into the next year only under exceptional circumstances, provided that it is not a regular occurrence, that entitlement is taken as soon as possible, and that there are genuine reasons for the holiday not being taken in the appropriate year. There are no circumstances today that allow an employee to ‘cash in’ their statutory holiday.
A closing thought on holiday pay – did you know that whilst you are off work on maternity/paternity/adoption leave, or sick leave, you still accrue holiday pay? So if you’ve had time off, be sure to check that your employer pays you the appropriate holiday pay.
by Matthew Coates
of Coates Business Services
