Holiday Pay Claims Explained

 If you are paid less than your normal pay when you take a holiday then you might have a claim against your employer worth thousands of pounds.

You will have a claim if you normally receive additional payments on top of your basic salary. These might include payments for:

    Commission;
    Regular Bonus;
    Overtime (whether contractual or not);
    Shift allowance;
    Nightshift payments
    On-call allowance;
    Unsociable hours payments; or
    Any other payment linked to carrying out your job.

If your employer stops making these payments during periods of annual leave then you will have a claim. Due to a recent change in the law, it is unlawful for your employer to pay you basic pay when you are on holiday. If your employer has not been paying you in the correct way, you can ask the Employment Tribunal to order your employer to pay you the difference between what you have been paid and what you should have been paid. You may be entitled to claim for any underpayments going back to 1998.

It doesn’t matter what job you do. You might be working in a call centre and receiving commission for any sales you make. You might be working in a care home and receiving an allowance for when you work at night or at weekends. It doesn’t matter who your employer is- do not assume that because you work for a big employer with an HR department that they have been paying you in the right way- the chances are, they have not.   

Useful links

http://www.thompsons-scotland.co.uk/Holiday-Pay-Claims.aspx

http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/overpay.html

Please note: it is unlikely that you will have a claim if the only additional payment you receive is for expenses