What Nursery Managers Need To Know About Annual Leave
Are your staff's annual leave entitlements causing you HR headaches? Allow Vicky Stanton to clarify matters…
Now that we’re into the final quarter of the year, it’s worth looking at the situation with your staff’s holidays.
Have they taken them all, or do they have some left? If they do, and your holiday year ends December 31st, then encourage them to book in the remainder. If your holiday year doesn’t run 1st Jan to 31st Dec, then you may need to adjust your terms and conditions to account for the fact that Easter has fallen twice during the holiday year 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016 – otherwise you’ll be required to pay staff for two extra holiday days in 2016/17! Now let’s have a look at some common annual leave questions…
Can you require an employee to accrue their annual leave before they take it? Yes, you can – but only in their first year of employment.
Can you recover ‘over-taken paid holiday’ if an employee leaves part way through the year? Yes, you can – providing that your terms and conditions document allows you to do this. You would take it from their final salary and advise them that you were doing this.
Do I have to pay employees on maternity leave their accrued holiday pay, or can you agree they’ve taken it while they’ve been off? To pay holiday pay while an employee is on maternity leave is technically unlawful. Annual leave still accrues during maternity leave, at the same rate that it would do if the employee were at work. Any outstanding leave must be carried forward, even if the maternity leave straddles two holiday years. Failure to do this may be classed as maternity discrimination.
Are zero hours workers entitled to holiday pay? Yes, they are – and more importantly, they’re entitled to the time off. The normal calculation for zero hours workers’ holiday pay (and for workers who work different hours each week) is to pay them 12.07% of their worked hours as holiday pay. You must be clear that when you pay them their holiday pay they’re getting time off as well, so don’t roster them to work. If you just pay holiday pay, then that’s a criminal matter under Health and Safety Law. You can calculate their entitlement by working out 12.07% of the hours they have worked up to the point of their holiday – that will give you what they have accrued to date:
e.g. First holiday – Worked 10 hours. 12.07/100 x 10 = 1.21 hours (72.63 minutes)
When they take their second holiday, calculate 12.07% of their total hours worked this year and subtract the holiday they have taken:
e.g. Second holiday – Now worked 20 hours in total. 12.07/100 x 20 = 2.41 hours (144 minutes)
Less holiday already taken and pay of one hour leaves one hour to be paid. There are some minutes in the pot!
Can a member of staff be sick while on holiday? If someone is sick, then they can’t be on holiday in annual leave terms. This is due to the premise that holiday is to rest and recuperate; if an employee is sick, then they are not ‘R and R’ing. You can ask for a doctor’s certificate in order to ‘give back’ their holiday days. If this situation arises, you are able to investigate appropriately. Is there a pattern? Have they been on Facebook saying they’ve been having a ball? Just to be clear, I don’t mean a formal discipline investigation!
Can a member of staff decide not to take their holidays, or can I pay them instead? If you contractually give the statutory minimum, then no. Every employee must take and be paid for 28 days annual leave in every holiday year (pro rata for part-time workers). This can include bank holidays.
Vicky Stanton is the director of HR 4 Your Nursery and has recently launched HR Hub – an online one-stop shop for all your people resources needs, including contracts, letters and policies. To find out more, visit vickystanton.sendmedetails.com/teach-early-years
