Bank Holiday Entitlement and the Platinum Jubilee
In celebration of the Queen’s 70 year reign, the Government have announced that the late May Spring Bank Holiday, which was due to fall on Monday 31 May 2021, will be moved to Thursday 2 June 2021; and there will be an extra Bank Holiday on Friday 3 June 2021.
A nice four-day weekend, for some, the obligatory trip to Ikea for others.
Check the contract
There is no statutory right for employees to take bank holidays off work and any such right will depend on the terms of their contract of employment. For statutory purposes, an employer only needs to ensure it provides employees with a minimum of 5.6 weeks of annual leave per year (28 days for a full-time employee). Moreover, there is no statutory obligation on an employer to pay extra (time and a half, double pay etc.) when an employee works on a bank holiday. Again, whether an employee is entitled to any extra pay for working on a bank holiday will depend on the terms of the employee’s contract of employment.
Furlough
Employer’s should be aware that, if bank holidays are included within an employee’s annual holiday entitlement, they should either pay the employee in full for the bank holiday that falls whilst the employee is on furlough, or the employer can substitute it with a day’s annual leave to be taken at a later date.
In circumstances where an employee’s contract of employment does not provide that they can take bank holidays off work, a bank holiday will have no effect on their pay.
Part time work
Moving the bank holiday from Monday to Thursday poses a real headache for employers of part-time workers and those with irregular working patterns, especially when bank holidays are treated as part of their annual leave.
Part time workers who would not normally work on a Thursday will benefit whereas those workers who would not normally work on a Monday but would work on a Thursday will see a notional decrease in their holiday entitlement.
Remember, part time employees (and those working irregular hours) are entitled to accrue holiday on a pro-rata basis and must receive a pro-rata entitlement of the bank-holiday at the correct rate.
If you have any queries in relation to how the move and addition of next Spring’s bank holidays affect your business, please e-mail Paul Kelly at PKelly@LawBlacks.com.