DO NOT WORK FOR PROTEMP or if you do, make damned sure that you claim your holiday pay for any week that you do not work for them.
I have just spent a full hour with the manager of the pay department arguing the toss about holiday pay as they reckon I’m not entitled to any at all since I’ve started because averaging what I’ve earned over the last 12 weeks, it comes to near zero.
I pointed out that it is THE LAW to pay 20 days pro rata.
In my case it is £9.70 for every day I work, which they said it was. I’ve done 10 days work for them so I should get £97. THey argued that because I’ve only done a day here and there then averaging it out over the 12 week reference period, I get nowt. I then pointed out that this was illegal as they weren’t complying with employment law. They said that I didn’t work every week. The point is, I don’t have to.
The stupid moron seems to think they are complying with the law when it means that I get paid nothing even though I’ve done work for them. She said I should claim it if I’m not working to which I pointed out that I’m also self employed so when I don’t work for them, I’m working with someone else.
I asked her what would happen if I worked every week but didn’t claim my holiday pay every 12 weeks and wanted to save it up for 4 weeks off at Xmas, would I get paid the 4 weeks at Xmas to which she replied that she was astonished that people wouldn’t take a week off every 12 weeks, let alone save it all up and no because I effectively lost the previouse 3 sets of 12 week periods.
She said that all employees are paid in the same way to which I replied that it still doesn’t make it legal.
Upshot is that the pay department is managed by a moron who hasn’t a clue and the company is breaking the law.
Basically, looks like I’m going to have to take them to either Small Claims Court or an Employment Tribuneral. I hope she phones the office in Hull because she’ll speak to someone who has known me for 13 years and find out that I DO know what I’m on about and I won’t let it drop.
im afraid to tell you that the law does not state that employees should be paid holiday pay through an agency.
i have been working for an agency since last september and i do not get any holiday pay as it is included in my wages each week
i have looked in to this and have found out from the employment tribunal law that there is lots of different pathways that these agecies can gho down.
the law changes that often that there is actually nothing that anyone can do aboult it unless you have lots and lots of money and want to persue it yourself.
the government does try to meke it harder for agencies, but if you ask me, blame toby blair…
he is wrecking what people i this country fought for years to have.
hi is a menace
northernirishinlpool:
im afraid to tell you that the law does not state that employees should be paid holiday pay through an agency.
Err, yes it does and has done for a quite a few years now since the employment law was altered to set a provision for holiday pay for part time and temporary workers.
northernirishinlpool:
i have been working for an agency since last september and i do not get any holiday pay as it is included in my wages each week
So in fact you ARE getting paid your holiday pay but it is included in your hourly rate as stated in your contract. Mine isn’t.
Conor:
Err, yes it does and has done for a quite a few years now since the employment law was altered to set a provision for holiday pay for part time and temporary workers.
Every employee, no matter the amount of work they do, is entitled to holidays and holiday pay by law. I am sure there is a guide on the Department of Trade and Industry’s website. Perhaps they would also be interested to know of any employers who dispute the fact that employees are now legally entitled to the equivalent of four weeks.
maybe i didnt explain my last message the best. my oliday pay is included in my weekly wages, so this means when it comes to my hols i do not get and hol pay as i have been getting it all year in my wages.
i thought maybe he was the same as that.
i’ve worked for Protemps twice before, the first time i left it took me about a month to get outstanding holiday pay from them (and i was contracted to them). The second time it took me three months to get an outstanding days pay from them, yes three months. And of interest to NIinLpool i left Drivers direct because they wouldn’t/didn’t pay me holiday pay when i had a week off after working full time for them on the Sommerfield contract!
Mike-C:
i’ve worked for Protemps twice before, the first time i left it took me about a month to get outstanding holiday pay from them (and i was contracted to them). The second time it took me three months to get an outstanding days pay from them, yes three months.
It’s not going to take me that long. THe silly mare is putting everything about the holiday pay in writing to me. Basically, she’s handing me a signed confession of guilt. I’ll use that document to work out what I know I’m owed then I’ll fire a letter off to them offering them the chance to pay me, giving them a week or so to respond, and if I still don’t get what I’m owed, it’s off to Court.
northernirishinlpool:
maybe i didnt explain my last message the best. my oliday pay is included in my weekly wages, so this means when it comes to my hols i do not get and hol pay as i have been getting it all year in my wages.
i thought maybe he was the same as that.
When the work pattern is irregular, this is the best way for holiday entitlement. That way you get exactly what you are entitled to. Nothing more, nothing less.
bit confussing this, you say your self employed but are then demanding holiday pay? did you invoice them for work done or were you paid on paye?
got to admit i’m not up on current employment regs but certainly up to 2.5 years ago holiday pay rates and entitlements were a private agreement between employer and employee and there was no law stating that an employer had to pay x amount of holiday pay.
i would say unless you’ve got a contract of employment stating your entitlements you havn’t got a prayer.
Conor, I must tell you that most agencies play this game, and this is why you are better off being on Nova or whoever you like that sorts your tax for you. That way you should get extra rate, to cover for no holiday pay and have the tax benefits too.
The most common sentences you’ll hear from Agencies are -
1 - You haven’t been here long enough - done enough days / hours continuous to get holiday pay. (Main reason to go on Nova or similar)
2 - They (the customer) don’t / won’t / pay it (its bullcrap but you’ll hear it when you find you didn’t get paid for something you should have)
3 - Do us a favour. ( they think you’re a buddy now)
4 - They (the customer) cancelled it ( rarely the case, they’ve just given it to someone else)
Conor:
Just to point out that it is illegal in Scotland to pay holiday pay in this manner.
This is the only factually accurate posting on the topic of holiday pay entitlement in this thread thus far.
I’m out driving myself today and off on Thursday so I may not get much chance to give fully cited chapter and verse but here’s a summary
Agency workers paid on a PAYE basis are entitled to the equivalent of 20 days paid leave per year.
As briefly as possible here’s the deal. For every 12 weeks worked one week of leave is accrued, if you work 5 days a week, every week, then your pay for your week’s leave is based on 5 days; if you average 2 days then you get 2 days pay when you take your week off. If you work 5 days a week through three different agencies then you should get the full 5 days worth of pay between them. You can accrue your leave if you choose, BUT under the terms of the relevant legislation you MAY lose that entitlement if you don’t claim it before the end of your holiday year (that is, for us, taken as ending on the anniversary of your registering).
Agency workers who contract through NOVA/Crestpay/etc have no direct entitlement to paid leave from the agency. They will however get an uplifted pay rate to reflect both this and the savings in NI.
northernirishinlpool:
how did you work for drivers direct for when you asked for hol pay, where you working for them on a steady basis.
apart from that, what is somerfield like to work for. i hear they are good. spose to be no problemm
im new to driving in england
Working in Sommefield is OK. I was full time for drivers direct when they wouldn’t pay me. They said i did not give them enough notice of my holidays, so they couldn’t pay me them. So i didn’t do anymore work for them. Get a employment contract of them if you can.
The world of agency work is a nightmare sometimes.
There always seems to be a grey area that they can use…the most common ploy is to ■■■■■■■■ for long enough and hope you get fed up before they do.
I think maybe a spot of direct action sometimes works on the odd occasion I saw a guy drag a young gentleman by the scruff of the neck over a desk. Obviously out of order and not to be condoned,but it did save time and resource on any official basis,so every cloud has a silver lining.
Another Lady trucker i know managed to engage the full might of the H&S with the agency and his very large client.(I believe the lady was owed 56 pounds but you know what they say about a woman scorned)
paul b:
bit confussing this, you say your self employed but are then demanding holiday pay? did you invoice them for work done or were you paid on paye?
got to admit i’m not up on current employment regs but certainly up to 2.5 years ago holiday pay rates and entitlements were a private agreement between employer and employee and there was no law stating that an employer had to pay x amount of holiday pay.
i would say unless you’ve got a contract of employment stating your entitlements you havn’t got a prayer.
I’m both self employed and employed. I’m employed by agencies on PAYE and I do driving which I find myself as self employed.
There’s been a statutory minimum amount of paid days holiday per year for donkeys years…certainly since 1998. In 2003, the 1998 regs were amended to include part time workers so if it’s been as recent as 2-3 years ago you were experiencing this then the company you were working for were breaking the law.
paul b:
bit confussing this, you say your self employed but are then demanding holiday pay? did you invoice them for work done or were you paid on paye?
got to admit i’m not up on current employment regs but certainly up to 2.5 years ago holiday pay rates and entitlements were a private agreement between employer and employee and there was no law stating that an employer had to pay x amount of holiday pay.
i would say unless you’ve got a contract of employment stating your entitlements you havn’t got a prayer.
I’m both self employed and employed. I’m employed by agencies on PAYE and I do driving which I find myself as self employed.
There’s been a statutory minimum amount of paid days holiday per year for donkeys years…certainly since 1998. In 2003, the 1998 regs were amended to include part time workers so if it’s been as recent as 2-3 years ago you were experiencing this then the company you were working for were breaking the law.
thecoder0:
The world of agency work is a nightmare sometimes.
There always seems to be a grey area that they can use…the most common ploy is to [zb] for long enough and hope you get fed up before they do.
There are no grey areas but there are plety of examples of them not complying with their obligations as an employer. Two things instantly coming to mind are paying SSP and Working Tax Credits.
