Calculating your Holiday Pay and Entitlement Before You Quit Your Job
After reading this:
- You'll know where to look for your holiday entitlement
- You'll be able to estimate the holiday pay you're due if you quit your job in the middle of a year
At I-resign.com we are often sent questions about resigning and holiday pay entitlement. It seems that many people out there are unsure about whether they're allowed to take all of their remaining holiday within their notice period, whether they'll be reimbursed if they have some days outstanding or indeed, if they'll lose any holiday days they've not been able to take at all.
It's All in Your Contract
The answers to these questions should be contained in your employment contract (or company handbook). Your contract should state:
- the commencement and end dates of your company's holiday year (e.g. 1st January - 31st December)
- your holiday entitlement (number of days) within the company holiday year
- the amount of notice you have to give to the company when you want to take a holiday
- whether any holidays not taken in the first company holiday year can be carried over to the second year (or subsequent years)
- how your holiday entitlement is calculated in the event that you leave the company e.g. if your holiday entitlement for the year is 20 days, this will be allotted to you at 1.66 days for each complete month of service
- whether you will be entitled to any monetary payment in lieu of any unused company holiday entitlement
- any provisos to this entitlement such as if you are fired for gross misconduct
- whether you are allowed any time off for public holidays, how much entitlement you have and whether you will be paid for these. In most cases, public holidays do not form part of your company holiday entitlement and cannot be cited in any final negotiation about how many holidays you have left owing to you
Although the wording may be different, your contract should cover these major points relating to holidays. If it doesn't or in the event of any confusion, you should consult with your boss or HR department about the exact meaning of any terms you don't understand.
Of course, you may not have a written employment contract or a company handbook. In this case, you may be reliant upon a verbal agreement as to how many holidays you are allowed in any given year. Again, you should consult with your employers about how much holiday you can take.
Holiday Pay Calculator
The I-resign.com Holiday Pay Calculator can help you in a number of ways:
- By telling us how much holiday you were entitled to in any given Holiday Year, we can tell you how much holiday you have left to take.
- If you tell us a few numbers, we can also tell you the gross amount you'll be paid if you cannot (or decide not to) take your full holiday entitlement.
Finally
Whether you choose to go away or not, we wish you the best of luck in whatever you're doing next.