Holiday Pay - Zero hours contracts.

Jennym254 · PayPerShop Regular Joined: 22 Nov 2004 Posts: 75

Hello...yet another confused person here.

Can you confirm...without the need for long explanations....because I've read the other two threads regarding holiday pay and have printed them off to digest later!

Is a contract illegal if it states that payment will only be made for hours worked and clearly states that there is no entitlement to holiday?

If it is, does that mean that someone can work say 4 hours in a month, leave because not enough work was supplied and then claim holiday pay?

I have a feeling the answer will be "yes" to the above questions...in which case, how do you make an employer aware that this is illegal?

Ian Congreave

The answer is certainly Yes, paid holiday leave is a statutory entitlement for workers. The Working Time Regulations (WTR), regulation 35, also says that a provision in a contract is void if it seeks to exclude or limit any of the WTR provisions or to preclude a person taking proceedings before an employment tribunal.

Strictly speaking, a contract that says that there is no entitlement to holiday pay is not an illegal contract - the contract itself can be upheld in law but the specific reference to holiday pay is worthless, it cannot be upheld by a tribunal.

How to make an employer aware of this? You might refer them to the DTI's guidance on who a worker is, at http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/work_time_regs/wtr1.htm#section1

I suppose a more important question is, how to you make employees aware that such a term in their contract is wrong and that they are entitled to holiday pay. I don't have an answer to that!
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Ian Congreave, PayPerShop owner

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