Unfair holiday entitlement?

ozzy90

Hi All,
I'm a student and have been working for a large UK retailer since October 2011. I began my employment on a 7 hour contract but after a month working there i have been working alot more hours than this a week. On average for 2012 i worked between 20-30 hours per week. I was told that because these hours are classed as overtime i am not entitled to accrue holiday hours for these hours worked therefore i am only entitled to 45 hours leave per year. Their holiday year goes from the 1st of April to 31st of March.
During the time im in college i work Monday 5-8pm, Thursday 4-8pm (these are my 7 contracted hours) and i also work 9-6 Saturday and 11-6 Sunday. This is 23 hours per week but if i wanted to book a week of work they will only pay me the 7 hours for Monday and Thursday. This has left me in a situation where i literally can't afford to take holidays. I have never been told I need to take my holidays and i have only taken 22 hours the past holiday year during exam periods. I have 23 remaining but am told I am going to loose these as they cant facilitate me being on holidays before the end of March.
I was recently made aware that my holiday entitlement as a part time employee should be 8% of the hours i work and I am not recieving anywhere near this. I have said this to my managers but have been fobbed of and told thats just the way it is in this company. I dont know where I stand here but from my workings i should be entitled to about 110 hours holidays per year and i was told my entitlement is 45 hours based on the 7 hours a week. Taking away the 22 hours holidays I have taken this year that means Ive lost out on about 90 hours leave the past holiday year. If you could offer any advice on this situation or need any further information I would really appreciate it.
I have emailed the citizens advice board a few times but have recieved no reply.
Thanks

tony81

You're entitled to 8% of hours worked. Contact nera or wait until you're leaving employment and hit them with a demand for pay in lieu.

ozzy90

Does anybody know how the average working week is calculated?
If i take a week of id like to know how much i should get paid. At the moment its only 7 hours even though i work 23 hours a week.
Is it the average hours over the past 13 weeks? From doing a bit of searching thats what i have found.

dearg lady

I thought it was 8% of hours worked up to contracted hours. That's what I got when I was part time. Tis a pain alright, same as OP, contracted for 8 hours, but usually worked around 25 hours.

ozzy90

dearg lady wrote: »

I thought it was 8% of hours worked up to contracted hours. That's what I got when I was part time. Tis a pain alright, same as OP, contracted for 8 hours, but usually worked around 25 hours.

Thats what work is telling me but everywhere else i look is different so im not sure

Stheno

dearg lady wrote: »

I thought it was 8% of hours worked up to contracted hours. That's what I got when I was part time. Tis a pain alright, same as OP, contracted for 8 hours, but usually worked around 25 hours.

That's what I would have thought too, however Citizens information says

There are 3 different ways of calculating your annual leave entitlement:

Based on the employee's working hours during what is called the leave year, which runs from April to March. An employee who has worked at least 1,365 hours in the leave year is entitled to the maximum of 4 working weeks' annual leave unless the employment ceases during the leave year. Many employers use the calendar year (January-December) instead of the official leave year to calculate entitlement
By allowing 1/3 of a working week for each calendar month in which the employee has worked at least 117 hours
8% of the hours worked in the leave year, subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks

An employee may use whichever of these methods gives the greater entitlement.

An employee who has worked for at least 8 months is entitled to an unbroken period of 2 weeks' annual leave.

Part-time work: Generally, the annual leave for part-time workers is calculated using the 3rd method, that is, 8% of hours worked. If you work full time for some months and the rest of the year you work part time, you should calculate the leave for the full-time and the part-time periods of work separately.

1365 hours divided by 52 is 26 hours a week, or divided by 48 is just over 28, so if OP is consistently working those sort of hours, their entitlement could be far greater.

Nothing in the article I read that states anything about part time workers contracted versus overtime hours.

dearg lady

Stheno wrote: »

That's what I would have thought too, however Citizens information says



1365 hours divided by 52 is 26 hours a week, or divided by 48 is just over 28, so if OP is consistently working those sort of hours, their entitlement could be far greater.

Nothing in the article I read that states anything about part time workers contracted versus overtime hours.

Yeah, it's a bit confusing as it says 'subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks' but I can't see where working week is defined

Mrs OBumble

Contact NERA.

Forget email, phone them.

ozzy90

During my summer holidays i was working 35-50 hours a week so i have worked alot of hours the past year and im getting no holiday entitlemnt for them. Some other staff are on work 15 hour contracts and work alot less than me but are entitled to twice the annual leave i am so i dont see how this is fair. Maybe its a loophole in the system they use im not sure but i cant find a definite answer anywhere

Stheno

ozzy90 wrote: »

During my summer holidays i was working 35-50 hours a week so i have worked alot of hours the past year and im getting no holiday entitlemnt for them. Some other staff are on work 15 hour contracts and work alot less than me but are entitled to twice the annual leave i am so i dont see how this is fair. Maybe its a loophole in the system they use im not sure but i cant find a definite answer anywhere

As Mrs O'Bumble said contact NERA by phone

ozzy90

Ill do that in the morning then. Thanks for your input all.