Holiday entitlement - two extra days taken

xoxyx

Hi all

I have a question on holiday entitlement. Started a new job last year and get 23 holiday days. According to my contract and letter of appointment, two days are taken off for Christmas, and one day for Easter. (We finish work on 23rd December and come back in on 2nd January.)

I asked recently how many holiday days I had remaining and was told that four days were being taken off for the Christmas and New Year period and that this was company practice. I've booked 16 days off in September \o/ and I've already taken a day and a half, so this leaves me with only half a day to play around with for the next few months.

I just wanted to check if they could take four holiday days off me at Christmas when my contract stipulates two. There's no option to work between Christmas and New Year's to save the days. I wasn't aware of the extra days taken until I asked about my holidays and, while I did take the full time off last year, in my last job we had the same holiday period but with only two days taken so I wasn't expecting more days to be taken.

Any advice gratefully received, as I want to make sure I'm right before I go back to them!

Cheers.

Bandana boy

They can if they want specify when all 23 days are to be taken.
All they have to do is give you enough notice.
Depending on when Xmas falls the number of working days between Christmass eve and New years varies each year.If the company is planning to close during this period then it would be both fair and right to expect you to use holidays for this.
on a side note 23 days is above the mandatory requirment for holidays so you are quite fortunate.

Denerick

actually no, 21 days is the mandatory minimum plus around 10 public holidays (Your entitled to have public holidays as a day off, if you work it you earn a day in lieue, and/or you get paid double for the day in question.

My workplace has 21 days plus 10 public holidays. Easter/Christmas etc. are public holidays and legally you are entitled to them as part of the public holidays entitlement.

Mark200

Denerick wrote: »

actually no, 21 days is the mandatory minimum plus around 10 public holidays (Your entitled to have public holidays as a day off, if you work it you earn a day in lieue, and/or you get paid double for the day in question.

My workplace has 21 days plus 10 public holidays. Easter/Christmas etc. are public holidays and legally you are entitled to them as part of the public holidays entitlement.

I'd imagine the poster may have been referring to days around the general Christmas / Easter time rather than the actual Christmas day and Easter day. Eg I had to take Good Friday as an annual leave day

xoxyx

Bandana boy wrote: »

They can if they want specify when all 23 days are to be taken.
All they have to do is give you enough notice.
Depending on when Xmas falls the number of working days between Christmass eve and New years varies each year.If the company is planning to close during this period then it would be both fair and right to expect you to use holidays for this.
on a side note 23 days is above the mandatory requirment for holidays so you are quite fortunate.

Cheers. Yep, I know that a workplace is entitled to tell you when you may take your holidays within any given year. And, I know that I'm getting above the mandatory requirement. My query was more a contractual one. Given that my contract states two days are taken for the Christmas / New Year period, are they entitled to say that I have to take four instead? What if they said I had to take eight or ten days? I accepted the job on the basis of that contract, and if I had known four days would be taken at the end of each year, I probably would have taken a different job offer.

amen

actually no, 21 days is the mandatory minimum plus around

actually no 20 days is the mandatory minimum.

Mr. Loverman

xoxyx wrote: »

Cheers. Yep, I know that a workplace is entitled to tell you when you may take your holidays within any given year. And, I know that I'm getting above the mandatory requirement. My query was more a contractual one. Given that my contract states two days are taken for the Christmas / New Year period, are they entitled to say that I have to take four instead? What if they said I had to take eight or ten days? I accepted the job on the basis of that contract, and if I had known four days would be taken at the end of each year, I probably would have taken a different job offer.

I don't think they've gone against the contract.

They have taken the two days for Christmas. They then went and said you need to take another two days holidays (which they are entitled to do).

In these kinds of situations my advice would be to accept what has happened and do nothing as a) it is unlikely you will get extra holidays if you complain and b) complaining may make the HR person or your manager dislike you (because they may be unreasonable people).

allibastor

xoxyx wrote: »

Cheers. Yep, I know that a workplace is entitled to tell you when you may take your holidays within any given year. And, I know that I'm getting above the mandatory requirement. My query was more a contractual one. Given that my contract states two days are taken for the Christmas / New Year period, are they entitled to say that I have to take four instead? What if they said I had to take eight or ten days? I accepted the job on the basis of that contract, and if I had known four days would be taken at the end of each year, I probably would have taken a different job offer.

i Would just ask about the holiday period and why it was four instead of two. my company does this a lot where holidays are doubled booked. just ask the question anyway.

you should still be able to take extra days off. just ask that it be deducted from your pay if you can manage that.

Eoin

From here.

Contractual terms and work practices
Legally there is a distinction between the terms in your contract of employment and work practices.

Contractual terms include pay, hours of work, sick pay and pension scheme. All of your contractual terms may not be in the written statement of your terms and conditions of employment. Some of your contractual terms could be in your staff handbook, a pension scheme booklet or a collective agreement. You can read more about contractual terms in our document on contract of employment. Changes to these terms must be agreed between you and your employer.

Work practices can include breaks and rostering, for example. Details of these may also be in your staff handbook and your employer may change these work practices without your consent. It is considered reasonable for an employer to update work practices or processes to save money or increase efficiency.

Sounds more like the latter to me, but I don't think anybody here can answer for sure.

xoxyx

Thanks guys. Think I'll just leave it be so. Damn!!! :P