Agency Staff Holiday Pay

[John1979home]

Hello All.

 

I'm an agency worker who's been temping for 3 years. My working hours per week vary between 37.5 and approx 48 each week. Recently I've been averaging 45 hours per week.

 

The agency I work for pays holidays as an average of my hours worked over the previous 8 weeks, but they cap the hours per week used to calculate the holiday pay at 40 hours. They've said that this is a legal requirement that they have to abide by and they'd be breaking the law if they paid my week's holiday as 45 hours instead of just 40 hours. I've a feeling they're screwing me out of 5 hours pay but I cannot disprove what they're telling me. Can anyone help?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Ell-enn]

Hi there, this is taken from the ACAS website which you might find useful in working out your entitlement. Acas - Advice leaflet - Holidays and holiday pay

 

 

Holiday pay

For each week of their statutory leave entitlement workers are entitled to be paid a week's pay calculated in accordance with sections 221-224 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 as follows:

Workers with normal working hours

 

• If a worker's pay does not vary with the amount of work done then a week's pay is the amount due for a week's work under the worker's contract. Pay for non contractual overtime is excluded.

 

• If a worker's pay varies with the amount of work done then the amount of a week's pay is the pay for the normal weekly working hours multiplied by the workers average hourly rate over the preceding 12 weeks. This may occur under a piece work, bonus or commission system. To calculate the average hourly rate, only hours where the worker was working, and the pay related to them, should be taken into account. Overtime hours can be included although pay for these hours should be adjusted to the normal rate. Any week in which no pay was due, for hours worked, should be replaced by the last previous week in which pay was received for hours worked.

 

• Shift and rota workers, whose pay varies because they work their normal hours at varying times and in varying amounts in different weeks, have their week's pay calculated differently. Their average weekly hours of work, in the preceding twelve weeks, are multiplied by their average hourly rate. The hourly rate is calculated as above and includes any shift allowance which is payable.

 

Workers with no normal working hours:

 

• If a worker has no normal working hours then a week's pay is the average pay received over the preceding 12 weeks. Any week for which no pay was due should be replaced by the last previous week for which pay was due.

 

There is a lot of information on the website which covers agency workers.

 

Kind Regards

 

Ell-enn

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