Discipline and holidays

Our employers say that if we are guilty of a disciplinary offence we will lose holiday entitlement; at least a week for a minor offence and more if the offence is viewed as gross misconduct. We only get the minimum holidays laid down by statute, so if anyone is guilty of a disciplinary offence they lose statutory holiday entitlement. Can this be right?

Every worker has the right to at least four weeks' paid holiday a year, and an employer cannot use the disciplinary procedure to avoid this liability.

The only circumstances where it would be possible for an employer to cut holiday pay would be where the terms and conditions on holidays were in excess of the four weeks laid down in the legislation. In such cases the employer could reduce holiday entitlement, provided there is a clear contractual right to do so.

* More information: LRD booklet, Law at work 2004