Employer wants me to take hols during redundancy notice period

misemoi

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I have been given redundancy notice on my return from maternity leave. I expected I would be paid in lieu of notice. However I have been informed that I must use accrued holidays for the notice period and am not expected to attend for work. This concerns me, as pilon would not be taxable, and holidays are. Can my employer do this? I have done some googling but this does appear to be a rare circumstance. I will be seeking legal advice as part of my leaving package includes a contribution to legal fees, but just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts? I have not asked what happens if I insist on attending work and getting paid as normal for the notice period, then receiving my accrued holidays. Also I have no issue with the selection procedure etc. Tia.
 
Sorry to hear your bad news. What makes you think pay in lieu of notice or accrued hooliday pay isn't taxable however? It is subject to standard income tax rules and reliefs. Your redundancy lump sum payment may not be however, depending on what level it is at.
 
Holidays are taxable, but the pilon would not be as there is no mention of this payment in my contract. I am aware of all the tax reliefs available on the lump sum, I just wanted to see if the way they are asking me to serve my notice is allowed.
 
One thing to note is if you work your notice and look for your accrued holidays in you final payment , you will pay more tax on the holiday pay then you would if you took them normally, this is due to the way the final payment wont allow you additional tax credits for your holiday pay.
 
PILON contractually provided for is taxable. PILON sprung on the employee by surprise is compensation, not taxable.

Surprise-PILON therefore is worth more to the employee than Contractual-PILON even if the methods of calculation are the same. You need to fight this.

(It may be that you will be told to claim this eventually in your Income Tax Return - lazy lawyers! - and you need to write to the Revenue explaining this conundrum exactly. I was faced with this situation in 2008/09, but eventually won my refund - I even expected more of a fight with Revenue but they acquiesced straightaway - - even if the lawyers/employer didn't at the time)
 
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