What is the annual leave for basic grades??

Alicefoster

Hi everyone,

I started working as a speech and language therapist a few months ago - I was hired by HSE off the panel. I was told that I was entitled to 27 annual leave days and no privilege days so Christmas Eve, goodfriday etc were working days and I had to take annual leave to have them off.

My friend also started working in a different area a few months ago but she has been told that she is getting 29 days.... And her local manager gave everyone Good Friday off as this was a local agreement so basically she gets 30 days off in total.

We are both working same contract same job etc. but I don't know who has made the mistake - I'm trying to find out if in fact we are supposed to have 27 or 29 days off and I've been researching online but i find the wording of the circulars a bit tricky to understand. My understanding is that all privilege days were subsumed into annual leave so we should have 27 but I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding and is it actually 27 annual days plus the two privilege days that make 29?!

Wondering if anyone here is a basic grade therapist and knows the answer? I believe all basic grade therapists are on same annual leave so this would apply to physios, OTs etc. too.

Thanks!

locum-motion

Every full time worker in the country is entitled to a minimum of four weeks (which for most people is 20 days) paid holidays.

They are also entitled to a paid day off for each of the 9 Public Holidays (Jan 1, Mar 17, Easter Monday, 1st Mon in May, June and Aug, last Mon in October, Dec 25 & 26).

Therefore, the legal minimum is 29 ordinary working days.

Good Friday is not a Public Holiday, although some employers treat it as if it were.

Alicefoster

Thanks but I meant what's the standard basic annual leave for basic grade therapists- bank holidays are not counted in your annual leave.

lazeedaisy

Several years ago the HSE took privilege days off us at the time,

There are no LOCAL agreements,

Alicefoster

Well I know two people in different services who were given Good Friday off and did not affect their annual leave so it must still be going on in some areas.

Do you know the basic annual leave for basic grades though?

Dingle_berry

The HSE standardised annual leave for a few grades in 2009 I think. Annual leave was brought up to 27 days/year. The memo is on the HSE website. This doesn't include bank holidays.
As part of the standardisation I think 'privilege days' (where if you work the day you get a day in lieu) like xmas eve were removed. As Good Friday wasn't a bank holiday or privilege day it was excluded from the standardisation.
I would check with your Union.

his_dudeness

Alicefoster wrote: »

Well I know two people in different services who were given Good Friday off and did not affect their annual leave so it must still be going on in some areas.

Do you know the basic annual leave for basic grades though?

It's quite possible that they were given the day off but didn't necessarily claim it.

Alicefoster

Dingle_berry wrote: »

The HSE standardised annual leave for a few grades in 2009 I think. Annual leave was brought up to 27 days/year. The memo is on the HSE website. This doesn't include bank holidays.
As part of the standardisation I think 'privilege days' (where if you work the day you get a day in lieu) like xmas eve were removed. As Good Friday wasn't a bank holiday or privilege day it was excluded from the standardisation.
I would check with your Union.

Hi again everyone,

Just to follow up to let you know that it seems that many people are actually getting 29 days because of the Haddington road agreement. I still haven't managed to get it in writing yet - I'm not a member of a union (knew I'd regret procrastinating about joining!!) so can't get info from them but I have spoken with a number of other basic grades who have reported that they got an increase to 29 days posy Haddington road.