Insisting on holiday pay

Freelances are understandably wary of raising the issue of holiday pay for fear that work with that particular client will come to a sudden end.

While it is the true that a client might cease to offer work at any time, the Freelance Office is not aware of any instances where this has followed a query about holiday pay.

On the other hand, we can think of instances when freelances have raised the issue, received holiday pay and continued to work for the company.

To give three examples: one regular casual was told his rate included holiday pay. However, it was not separately itemised and he had never agreed to this. The company agreed to back date payment.

One freelance decided to inquire about holiday pay at the end of a long stint with a company. They agreed to pay her and assured her she would be welcome to work for them in future.

Best of all, a casual who works regular shifts for a national newspaper was given backdated holiday pay - and a contract providing a minimum of three shifts per week, holiday pay and assurance of self-employment status for taxation purposes.

John Toner
Freelance Organiser

• The Department of Trade announced on 30 March that it intends to extend paid time off for all workers so that Bank Holidays will be payable in addition to the minimum 20 days, pro rata. But this has not taken effect and we do not yet know when it will. We'll let you know when it happens.