What are bank holidays?
Can employees be required to work on bank holidays?
Are employees who are required to work on bank holidays entitled to pay in lieu of time off, or additional holiday?
Are part-time workers entitled to bank holidays?
If a part-time or shift-working employee is not scheduled to work on a bank holiday, is he or she entitled to an additional day's holiday?
If a part-time employee is contracted to work a half day on a bank holiday, is he or she entitled to an additional half day's holiday to take at another time?
If an employer provides for pro rata bank holiday entitlement for part-time employees, how should it calculate this?
Can employees be required to take annual leave on bank holidays?
Can bank holidays be included in a worker's statutory leave entitlement?
Are employees entitled to time off for bank holidays in addition to the statutory minimum annual leave entitlement of 5.6 weeks?
As a result of amendments to the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833), the statutory minimum annual leave entitlement increased from four to 5.6 weeks between October 2007 and April 2009. There is no automatic entitlement to take time off on bank holidays in addition to this, unless the terms of the employment contract provide otherwise.
Under s.1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, employers must give new employees a written statement of terms and conditions of employment. Under s.1(4)(d)(i) of the Act, the statement must contain terms relating to holiday entitlement, including bank holidays, and holiday pay.
Prior to the increase in holiday from four to 5.6 weeks, many employers worded contracts to the effect that employees were entitled to "statutory entitlement plus bank holidays". Previously, this wording would have granted an entitlement to 20 days' leave (for an employee working a five-day week) plus eight bank holidays. Following the increase, it denotes an entitlement to 28 days' leave plus eight bank holidays. Employers should check their organisation's employment contracts to determine whether or not this could be an issue.
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What is an employee’s holiday entitlement if an extra bank holiday is granted one year?
If an employee’s contract states that his or her holiday entitlement is a certain number of days "plus eight bank holidays" is he or she entitled to an extra bank holiday that is granted one year?
Is an employee who is required to work on bank holidays entitled to extra pay?
What different types of holiday need to be accounted for in the written statement?
How should an employer deal with an employee who refuses to work on a bank holiday?
Are employers required to provide pay or time off in lieu of bank holidays that coincide with maternity leave?
Where an employee's period of paternity leave coincides with a bank holiday, is the employer under any obligation to provide a compensatory day off or pay in lieu?
Can Christian employees refuse to work on the bank holidays that are aligned to a Christian festival such as Easter?
Should employees who practise religions other than Christianity be given additional time off in lieu where a bank holiday is aligned to a Christian festival such as Easter?
How should an employer deal with an employee who calls in sick on a bank holiday?