archie074 asked:
i work an alternating shift pattern of 4 days a week followed by 5 days a week.
my boss has now decided that if i take the 4 day week as a holiday, i will lose 5 days holiday entitlement! can he do that?
(UK based)
i work an alternating shift pattern of 4 days a week followed by 5 days a week.
my boss has now decided that if i take the 4 day week as a holiday, i will lose 5 days holiday entitlement!I am paid on a basis of a minumum of 40 hrs a week but i easily do that on the 4 day week and lots more on the 5. i regularly do the most hours of all the employees.
can he do that?
(UK based)
Your right – it’s not fair – try acas or citizans advice see what they say.
No he can’t, when you start employment you both sign a contract on ‘Conditions of employment’ it works both ways, neither party can change these conditions without consultation.
Inform your employer of this and if you still have problems, check with your local CAB for advice on your next step.
You are entitled to 20 days paid holiday per year plus statutory bank holidays and any extra days from long service. It doesn’t really matter about 4 or 5 day shift patterns. Your boss has got this so wrong!
In the UK as of Oct 2007 the law has changed.
You are now entitled to 4.8 week including bank and public holidays – in other words all employers must give you 4.8 weeks worth of leave min. (see article below).
When on shift this can make things difficult as you need to take the working time directive into account. If shifts are 8 hrs a working day then it is easy – if they are 10+ hour days then it does get a little more difficult. For example a 12 hr shift may be seen as 1.4 annual leave days.
So the answer is maybe – it all depends. If you booked all your weeks leave on 4 day weeks then you would take more leave than you are entitled to. On the other hand if you took all you leave on 5 day weeks you would lose out on leave!
On balance it looks like what your boss has done is i fact more fair. If you take all your leave on 5 day weeks – you will in-fact end up with more time off!
The alternative is to have 2 annual leave rates a 5 day week one and a 4 day week one – this will get very messy and you will probably lose out.
Q – do you work longer hours on the 4 day week than the 5 day week (per day) ? or are they the same?
Hope this helps
Mike – FCIPD
im guessing that whether you do a 4 day week or a 5 day week you still do the same amount of hours each week? thats what your holiday is based on so if you get 6 weeks holiday then its just 6 lots of 40 hours per week for example. he cant change your holiday based on the number of days you work unless they affect the amount of hours your working also. contact HR about this, if you dont have a HR department then contact Citezens Advice Bureau.