Holiday

Holiday Entitlement

You are entitled to 20 days holiday per year, plus bank holidays. The holiday year for employees of One Degree North runs from 1st January to 31st December. All holidays should be taken in the leave year for which it is due.

You must use up at least 60% of your annual holiday allowance by 30th September and 95% of your allowance by 30th November in any given Calendar year. Any more than 1 or 2 holiday days required in December will need to be specially requested to your line manager by 30th September.

No holidays are to be taken on key selling days during the year – such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday unless under special circumstance of which you must discuss with a Director in good time prior.

You will also receive an additional day’s annual leave when you have been employed by One Degree North for one complete year capped at 7 days. The additional day’s annual leave will be added to your entitlement in the January after you complete the years’ service.

Your annual leave is to be taken with the dates agreed between you and the director(s) giving notice as explained below.  Due to the nature of our business and size, only a maximum of 2 members of staff are allowed holiday at any one time without director approval.  If this process is not followed, your holiday may be considered unauthorised leave, you may not be paid, and disciplinary action may be started against you.

At the end of a leave year any remaining leave will not be carried over into another holiday year or paid off in lieu unless a period of statutory maternity, paternity or adoption leave has prevented you from taking it in the relevant year or unless exceptional circumstances have prevented you from taking your allocated holiday and this has been agreed in advance with and the director(s)

Annual leave must only be taken at times that have been agreed with the director(s) and will be approved on a first come, first served basis.  Holidays must be limited to two weeks at any one time except by special arrangement with the director(s).

Holiday pay will take into account your ‘normal pay’ i.e., basic salary plus regular payments received which would be reduced due to taking holiday.  ‘Normal pay’ would include commission payments, guaranteed overtime and non-guaranteed overtime (where you may not be required to work overtime but if the need arises, you must work it). Holiday pay will be calculated on ‘normal pay’ received during the previous 52 weeks.

New Joiners

Leave entitlement in your first year of employment is calculated on a pro-rata basis, based on how much of the holiday year you will work. In order to accrue holiday for the first month of you joining. Your annual holiday entitlement will be specified in your Contract of Employment.

We will make every effort to honour the prior holiday commitments of new employees provided they are discussed and agreed in writing with the director(s) prior to joining. You may be expected to take this leave without pay. During your first year of service, unless otherwise agreed, you will not normally be allowed to take more holiday than you have accrued.  Unless agreed with the director(s), you will not normally be allowed to take holiday within the first 3 months of your employment.

Part-Time Workers

Part-time employees are entitled to the same benefits as full-time employees but increases in annual leave entitlement due to lengths of service will be on a pro-rata basis. Part-time employees will also accrue a pro-rata number of bank holidays.  

Where possible we will attempt to keep your holiday entitlement in days, but there are occasions where we will legally need to calculate your entitlement in hours, for example, where you work irregular hours throughout the week.

Religious Holidays

Subject to reasonable notice being given and the requirements of the business, you will normally be allowed to use your holiday entitlement to observe special religious holidays.

Leavers

Upon leaving, you are entitled to have taken a proportionate amount of leave, up to your last day of service. If outstanding leave cannot be taken before leaving, then you will be paid for any untaken leave for that year.  If the leave entitlement (pro-rata) has been exceeded we reserve the right to deduct this sum from any monies, whether final salary, bonus or commission outstanding, expenses etc., from the final salary payment.  Where an employee dies in service, payment of any holiday outstanding at the date of death will be made to the deceased’s next of kin.

Procedure and Rules for Holiday Requests

• All requests for holiday should be made via Staff Squared at the earliest, reasonable time.  
• You must not commit yourself to any holiday plans or paid bookings until you have received acceptance from one of the director(s).
• All holidays will be authorised or rejected by the director(s).
• You may not take holiday without the prior permission of the director(s) and the granting of holiday is subject to operational requirements.  If you wish to take more than 1 weeks’ holiday at a time, at least 4 weeks’ notice must be given.
• Holiday cannot be taken as an alternative to sick leave.
• If you are absent on sick leave, you may not commence your holiday until you are fully recovered – medical evidence of this may be required. 
• If, for any reason, you expect to be delayed in returning to work after holiday, you must contact one of the directors and give notice as soon as is reasonably practical.  Failure to do so would result in an unauthorised absence which could lead to disciplinary action the result of which may be dismissal.
• Unless authorised by a director, you may not take more than 10 days’ holiday at once.
• Holiday requests submitted during your notice period will be approved when possible.  However, consideration will also be given to the nature of your duties, the amount of outstanding work, and the complexity of handing over to a successor. One Degree North reserves the right to refuse requests for holiday made during the notice period. 
• If you are on Garden Leave during your notice period, it will be assumed you are taking any accrued and untaken holiday during this time.
• When you are out of the office, an appropriate ‘Out of Office’ message should be placed on your email account.
• On leaving One Degree North, any outstanding holiday that has been accrued and not taken will be calculated per completed calendar month of service and paid in the final salary. The payment shall be calculated as number of days’ annual leave accrued but not taken, multiplied by your daily rate of basic salary.  As such it will be subject to deductions for Tax and National Insurance.
• Should you have exceeded your annual accrued entitlement at the date of leaving, we will deduct the appropriate sum from any outstanding monies, whether final salary, bonus or commission, expenses etc. from your final salary payment.

All employees are entitled to the usual Public and Bank holidays observed in the UK, as specified in your Contract of Employment.  If you are asked to work on a bank holiday, you will be given this day back as a day in lieu.  Time off for non-standard bank holidays will be permitted at the discretion of the Company and subject to business requirements.