Disagreements over holidays and holiday pay are common. Every year our Workplace Information Service gets hundreds of calls about leave issues and the calculation of leave entitlements.
- Most workers - whether part-time or full-time - are legally entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid annual leave.
- Additional annual leave may be agreed as part of a worker's contract.
- A week's leave should allow workers to be away from work for a week - i.e. it should be the same amount of time as the working week.
- If a worker does a five-day week, he or she is entitled to 28 days leave.
- If he or she does a three-day week, the entitlement is 16.8 days leave.
- Employers can set the times that workers take their leave, for example for a Christmas shutdown.
- Workers must give their employer notice when they want to take leave.
- If a worker's employment ends, he or she has a right to be paid for the leave time due and not taken.