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?
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?
If an employee is required to work on bank holidays under the terms of his or her employment contract, the employee cannot refuse to work, even for religious reasons. However, employers should be aware of their obligations under the Equality Act 2010, which protects workers against direct and indirect discrimination because of any religion, religious belief or philosophical belief.
While the Act does not say that employees have the right to time off for religious observance, a refusal to grant Christian employees time off for any of the bank holidays with religious significance could amount to indirect religious discrimination if it places them at a particular disadvantage when compared with employees of other faiths, or non-religious employees.
Indirect discrimination can be justified, and is therefore not unlawful, where employers can show that their decision to refuse the time off is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Employers should therefore ensure that they have a compelling business reason for refusing any request for leave for religious observance. Acas guidance, Religion or belief and the workplace (PDF format, 306K) (on the Acas website), states that employers should be sympathetic to such requests where it is reasonable and practical for the employees to be away from work, and they have sufficient holiday entitlement in hand.
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