Holiday Pay and Entitlement

At Elite Selection Services we always give guidance to our candidates about resigning. One of the most frequently asked questions is about holiday entitlement and holiday pay.  It appears that many people out there are unsure about whether they are entitled to take all of their remaining holiday within their notice period, whether they will be reimbursed if they have some days outstanding or indeed, if they will lose any days they have not been able to take at all.

Holiday Entitlement during notice

This is all dependent upon the terms of your employment contract (or company handbook). Your contract should state:

• the commencement and end dates of your company's holiday year (e.g. 1st January - 31st December)
• your holiday entitlement (number of days) within the company's holiday year
• the amount of notice you have to give to the company when you want to take a holiday
• whether any holidays not taken in the first company holiday year can be carried over to the second year (or subsequent years)
• how your holiday entitlement is calculated in the event that you leave the company e.g. if your holiday entitlement for the year is 20 days, this will be allotted to you at 1.66 days for each complete month of service
• whether you will be entitled to any monetary payment in lieu of any unused company holiday entitlement
• any provisos to this entitlement such as if you are fired for gross misconduct
• whether you are allowed any time off for public holidays, how much entitlement you have and whether you will be paid for these. In most cases, public holidays do not form part of your company holiday entitlement and cannot be cited in any final negotiation about how many holidays you have left owing to you

Although the wording may be different, your contract should cover these major points relating to holidays.  If it doesn't or in the event of any confusion, you should consult with your line manager or HR department about the exact meaning of any terms you don't understand.

Of course, you may not have a written employment contract or a company handbook.  In this case, you may be reliant upon a verbal agreement as to how many holidays you are allowed in any given year. Again, you should consult with your employers about how much holiday you can take.

Finally

Whether you choose to resign or not, we wish you the best of luck in your future employment.

Your thoughts and comments on the service provided by Elite Selection Services are very highly valued by us, please take the time to send us your comments via info@eliteselectionservices.co.uk

Back to the top

Changing the Way the World Recruits

Copyright ©2003 Elite Selection Services