Planning holiday considering average pay and bonus advice?

[zoomy]

Hi all I am after a little advice to help me understand correctly my potential entitlement here.
My figures are hypothetical.

I am salaried on £26k + 1 yearly performance bonus paid in December this year £12,000.
My salary is paid monthly every 4 weeks at £2k. In December however I received the additional bonus so total £14k.

I usually take my holidays in May July and September.
As I am salaried I always receive £2k/4 weeks regardless if I am on holiday or not.

This year though if I take 1 week off in January I should receive the average of the last 12 weeks so I should get
£14k Dec + £2k Nov + £2k Oct = £18k / 12 weeks = £1.5k / week. Rather than £500 / week.
I should receive additional payment for my holiday taking my salary to £3,000?

February is even better increasing to £19k over the last 12 weeks = £1,583 /week
So I should take 1 weeks holiday in February giving me a salary of £3,058

Then March is the best and last month. £14k + £3k + £3,083 = £20,083 or £1,673 week
I can take 2 weeks off here at the last 12 week average and my pay would be again increased on average to a salary of £4,346.

If the above is correct I would be £4,494 better of taking my holiday entitlement in Jan - March rather than May July September.
Am I correct here?

[deckster]

I presume that you are contracting through an umbrella, who pay you a fixed salary and then return any surplus to you at the end of the year? That's the only way I can make sense of your question as no true employment works in the way you've said.

What does your brolly say?

[zoomy]

Not sue about the umbrella.
I am on sales full time with a basic salary of £26,000.
I have a annual sales target. Any sales above this figure I receive a % bonus.
The year runs from December to November so that we receive our bonus for the Christmas period.

What I am trying to get to is if I use my holidays over the next 12 weeks then will the bonus reflect in my salary if I use my 4 weeks holiday?
Where as if I use my holidays like I usually do in summer then my last 12 weeks will be at base salary with no bonus.
Does that help?

Edited by zoomy on Thursday 22 January 13:03

[deckster]

OK...so you are full-time employed then. This is the bit that's confusing me:

zoomy said:

I take 1 week off in January I should receive the average of the last 12 weeks

Is this in your contract? It's a very strange thing to have for a full-time employee.

Either way, the answer is pretty simple. Your salary is your salary; your bonus is your bonus. If your holiday pay is calculated from your salary, then the bonus is irrelevant.

Put another way: would you as an employer pay your employees an extra £5k based on when they took their leave? Thought not.

[zoomy]

Ok,
I would rather have my holidays in the summer anyway but when talking "in the pub" I was informed that I should do this and take the extra benefit from the bonus payment.
I would have taken my holidays now though if it meant the extra £4,500.

[robdcfc]

I would think that you would get basic salary for holiday as the rest is a performance based bonus.

[JQ]

zoomy said:

Ok,
I would rather have my holidays in the summer anyway but when talking "in the pub" I was informed that I should do this and take the extra benefit from the bonus payment.
I would have taken my holidays now though if it meant the extra £4,500.

I think someone might be winding you up. I work in a bonus orientated industry and have never worked for a company that would include bonus payments in holiday pay, in the same way as bonuses and car allowances don't count towards pension contributions. I suspect your contract says the average of the last 12 weeks "salary", which would not include your bonus.

Check your contract for the exact wording as I'd be amazed if it's true. If it is you're onto a winner.

[Foliage]

Errr.

How it works for me, I get 4 weeks holiday (actually I get more but 4 weeks is statutory) I get the same pay every 4 weeks, in September I get a lump sum bonus so my September pay is bigger by that amount. Its irrelevant when I take my holidays.

BUT depending on what you sell and your performance month by month it may be worth looking back over the last few years sales figures to see which months where your worst performers and then take weeks off in them months in order to optimise your sales, you may sell more in summer than in winter etc.

[edc]

I suspect perhaps that somebody is getting themself confused with the more reent holiday pay and overtime ruling.

[Du1point8]

pay is £26k no matter what.
Bonus is just that, a bonus.
Holiday will be paid on the basic salary of £26k

If you are in sales and are so concerned about it, I would be drafting up a spreadsheet and work out when you make the least amount of sales on average for the past few years and take the holiday then.

This is so that it won't mess with the performance bonus you are on.

[zoomy]

My contract is for 40 hours and holiday is on basic pay.
We were talking about the overtime ruling yes as one of my mates now gets overtime included in his holiday pay.12 week average
I don't and can't get overtime.
I am not grumbling about it I was thinking I could get it in now before the employer (family owned business) shuts the loophole down.
If the loop hole existed.

So how come hourly paid employees with overtime get 12 weeks average pay and salaried staff don't

[edc]

zoomy said:

My contract is for 40 hours and holiday is on basic pay.
We were talking about the overtime ruling yes as one of my mates now gets overtime included in his holiday pay.12 week average
I don't and can't get overtime.
I am not grumbling about it I was thinking I could get it in now before the employer (family owned business) shuts the loophole down.
If the loop hole existed.

So how come hourly paid employees with overtime get 12 weeks average pay and salaried staff don't

The key thing is you are not paid overtime ergo how can you have overtime pay included in any payment.

[zoomy]

12 week average pay (unless your salaried and receive a bonus)
In which case basic pay rules

It would appear that I am best taking my holidays in the summer.

I am happy anyway not trying to cause any trouble was simply wondering if I could benefit from this.

Thanks for your thoughts.