Paying off holiday pay

I got made redundant Jan 6th. I had taken only one weeks holiday out of my 24 days allowance for 2008. My employer is only paying me one week's holiday, as this is the maximum that can be carried over per our employment contract. I couldn't take any holiday in what turned out to be my final month as I had to provide cover for another colleague who took the whole of December off. I've always been paid off my accrued holidays in full before, but I guess I must never have been laid off at the start of January. I feel like I have been stiffed somewhat, and was wondering if this is standard practice.

Tony,

Dear Tony

I am sorry to hear that you have been made redundant.

I imagine that if you were made redundant on this date your consultation must have started in 2008?

In any redundancy situation you have the right of appeal, did you do this and include this query?

If I were you I would also raise a grievance and state that you couldn't take your holidays due to covering another person's job and that in the past they had set a precedent by always paying accrued and untaken holidays.

You also need to review what your contract says about carrying holidays forward and if it has a clause about there being extenuating circumstances to allow more than the 5 days to be taken.

Until you state about when you had your consultation and if you raised these issues during this, or appealed, it is hard to comment further.

However, if you feel that you have been unfairly selected for redundancy and that you believe that you have not been paid your due holiday entitlement you can make a claim to an ET, providing of course that you have raised an appeal or a grievance. Also, non payment of entitlements is a breach of contract and you can also make this claim under the Wages Act.

It is best to review my queries above and then come back to us so that we can advise further if need be. If not, you can contact a no win no fee lawyer, contact the solicitors on this site, your local Citizens Advice Bureau or Acas.

Hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Carol