entitlement to holidays

monkey8

i started a job in october 2011, worked with company until end of march 2012.
In my contract I have to take my holidays (20 days) in the calender year and cannot keep the over from one year to the next. I took 5 days in january and 5 days in march.
In my final pay check, 4 days holiday pay was taken from my gross amount.
Is this correct?
In total in 6 months i took 10 days (allowed 20 days/year)

Also if a company randomly decides to close for a day does that get counted as a days holiday?

wmpdd3

Sounds like you were paid holidays for christmas eve etc. Days the place closed but were not public holidays.

monkey8

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Sounds like you were paid holidays for christmas eve etc. Days the place closed but were not public holidays.

Are they legally allowed to close certain days and count that as holidays?

Anywhere else I have worked they would not be included in the 20 days.

davo10

As per your contract you were entitled to 20 holiday days pay per year ( i assume you mean 22 as I think this is the legal minimum) this is applied on a pro rata basis, therefore if you work for three months or one quarter of a year, you are entitled to one quarter of you contracted holiday days pay ie 5.5 days. You took 10 days holiday in your three months of this year so applied on a pro rata basis, you were overpaid for 4.5 of these hence the deduction.

monkey8

thanks davo for that info.
Does that mean that i am entitled to 8% of my pay from september to december since i didn't take any holidays in that period?

Feathers

monkey8 wrote: »

thanks davo for that info.
Does that mean that i am entitled to 8% of my pay from september to december since i didn't take any holidays in that period?

No legal expert in any way shape or form, but the Organisation of Working Time Act specifies that the times to which you are to be granted holidays are decided by your employer, with your consent. & with your consent, holidays can be brought over into the first 6 months of the next year.

I would read from this that your employer is responsible to arrange that either a) You use up your days before the end of Decemeber or b) allows you to take them in the following year.

Additionaly:

Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, Section 23, Subsection 1 Paragraph A wrote:

Where — an employee ceases to be employed, and the whole or any portion of the annual leave in respect of the current leave year or, in case the cesser of employment occurs during the first half of that year, in respect of that year, the previous leave year or both those years, remains to be granted to the employee, the employee shall, as compensation for the loss of that annual leave, be paid by his or her employer an amount equal to the pay, calculated at the normal weekly rate or, as the case may be, at a rate proportionate to the normal weekly rate, that he or she would have received had he or she been granted that annual leave.

— Irish Statute Book

davo10

monkey8 wrote: »

thanks davo for that info.
Does that mean that i am entitled to 8% of my pay from september to december since i didn't take any holidays in that period?

Did the business close between Christmas and New Year?, many insist that some holidays be taken during this period.

davo10

Feathers the employee uses them or loses them at the end of each year, there is no obligation to carry them over if the employment contract specifically outlines that this is not permitted.

seamus

monkey8 wrote: »

Are they legally allowed to close certain days and count that as holidays?

Yes, this is perfectly legal and done in a lot of places. The only stipulation is that the employees must be notified a month in advance. They can't really decide to close up shop tomorrow and take it out of your holidays.

davo10 wrote: »

Feathers the employee uses them or loses them at the end of each year, there is no obligation to carry them over if the employment contract specifically outlines that this is not permitted.

A "use it or lose it" policy isn't strictly legal. A lot of places threaten it, but since it is the employer's obligation to ensure that an employee has taken all of their leave within a given year, they cannot actually run a "use it or lose it" policy because they would be in breach of their obligations as an employer and legally underpaying the employee.

It's a bizarre little piece of legislation - it states that an employer must ensure that an employee uses their leave, but states no offences, penalties or remedies if they fail to do so.

Feathers

davo10 wrote: »

Feathers the employee uses them or loses them at the end of each year, there is no obligation to carry them over if the employment contract specifically outlines that this is not permitted.

But surely 23-1-A mentioning explicitly that you're entitled to pay in lieu if you have holidays left for this year (or last year, if you leave up until June) would mean something? A contract can't trump the legislation.