Job Discussion Forums

[shibainu69]

do they pay your summer holidays if you don't renew a contract or do you need to renew to get your summer holiday as a paid holiday?

[jdl]

The pay schedule varies slightly from contractor/employer to contractor/employer. Read your contract carefully to determine the pay schedule. The bottom line is that you should be paid the contracted amount. This amount may be spread out over a 10 to 12 month period with many contractors paying out over an 11 month period with the 11th month being paid in advance at the end of the school term in the form of a 'bonus'. This is not really a bonus since it is part of the contracted salary agreement. The 'summer holiday pay' as you call it it is really salary 'hold back' paid out at the end of the contract. The annual salary can be paid out on various pro-rated bases so check your contract carefully. Some employers/contractors may not pay out the 'hold back/holiday pay' if the employee leaves before the contract period ends as a measure to dissuade 'runners' with a threat of 'capital punishment'.....pardon the pun.

To answer your question directly...the answer is NO. Employers/contractors can not legally tie or condition the paying out of a contracted salary to the signing of a second contract. What is legal and what is practiced may not always be the same so read your contract carefully.

[eslbear]

In the labor law, after you have completed one year of service, you are entitled to paid vacation or any portion of it calculated against the notice period that you give - if you give only two weeks notice, then you can get only two weeks pay - which actually means that you pay the company for the time that you didn't give notice - if you give zero notice, you owe the company one month's salary.

If there is a clause in your contract that states otherwise, be careful - the contract comes first and the default is the law.

eslbear