‘Tis The Season To Be Busy

With spring here (finally) and summer on the way, it is the time when

there are extra jobs to be done, gardens to be tended, parties arranged

and many domestic and household staff will work overtime. But if that

overtime is necessary for a continuous period, are staff right in asking for it to be included in their holiday?

There has been some publicity on this with regard to recent cases, so

where do you, as the employer stand?

If your employees always work the same number of hours, calculating

holiday pay is easy enough. Standard legal holiday pay for most

employees is at least 28 days paid annual leave equivalent to 5.6

weeks of holiday. But when the overtime is occasional, what is the situation? In essence

there are three different types of overtime: compulsory, non guaranteed

and voluntary. If the requirement for compulsory overtime is written into

the employee’s contract of employment, the overtime payment must be

included in holiday pay calculations.

When non guaranteed overtime becomes a sustained pattern again, this

should be included in holiday pay calculations as nowadays a Tribunal

will probably rule for the employee. The same goes for voluntary

overtime, if it fits into a sustained pattern over a period of time.

However in all cases, The overtime element is however only paid for

four weeks of the 5.6 weeks entitlement.

The Graham Agency, keeping you informed

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