The Royal wedding has been announced and the whole country will be celebrating with the happy couple by having an extra bank holiday on 29 April – or will they? Holiday entitlement, especially for part time workers, is notoriously complex, and the extra bank holiday may cause a bit of a headache for HR.
Hooray for the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971!...will doubtless be the cry echoing round workplaces everywhere in April this year. Well, maybe not, but it's this Act that means the Queen can announce an extra bank holiday for the Royal Wedding on 29 April, and, incidentally, an extra bank holiday in 2012 for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.
So, what does this mean for employers? Well, for those who have full-time staff entitled to bank holidays in addition to their normal holiday entitlement, it means very little. Everyone gets the extra day off but employers have to pay for it.
However, if you have part-time workers, things may be a bit trickier. For some workers, it may be that you don't need to give them the extra bank holiday at all (although how this would go down with your work force is a different matter!)
The way you can approach the extra bank holiday depends on what your contracts of employment say. The basic position is that if your employees are entitled to at least statutory minimum (5.6 weeks') holiday, inclusive of bank holidays, you don't need to give them the extra day. If their contract says that their holiday is in addition to bank holidays, you should give them the extra day. (Workplace customs relating to holiday may be relevant, if this affects you, you should consider taking advice before denying employees the extra day.)
Although employees are entitled to a minimum amount of holiday, the law does not say when they must take this – there is no right to paid time off on bank holidays. Therefore, if you need someone to work on 29 April, you can probably make them do so. Whether you need to give them time off in lieu will again depend on their contract of employment (and your normal policy for bank holidays).
For part-time employees things seem more difficult, but the same principles apply. If they get at least minimum holiday entitlement (i.e. 5.6 weeks on a pro-rata basis) inclusive of bank holidays, then they will not need to receive an extra day pro-rata. If their holiday is "in addition to bank/ public holidays" they will get the extra day anyway (pro-rated or not depending on the contract).
From a practical perspective, withholding the extra bank holiday (even if you are legally entitled to do so) will mean that you end up with a lot of disgruntled employees, and obviously, there is nothing to stop you giving people the extra day even if you don't have to. The key thing here is fairness – either everyone gets the extra day, or no one does. If your full time employees get the extra day, make sure your part-time and/or casual workers get the pro-rated equivalent. Otherwise you could find a post-wedding employment tribunal claim landing on your desk.
The other hot topic that the Wedding bank holiday brings up is that (for Monday to Friday workers) it creates a 4 day weekend just after the Easter weekend, leaving 3 working days between the two. ie book those three days off as holiday and you get 11 days off for the price of 3. It is conceivable that these days may be in demand! How you deal with this is not really a legal issue – whether you use 'first come, first served' or a ballot system or another way is not important. What is important is that you make it clear to people why their holiday request has been refused. People get het up over holiday, and if they are not given clear reasons, may jump to the conclusion that the refusal is a result of discrimination rather than because, for example, 250 employees all want the same days off and you have to draw the line somewhere!
So, the message about holidays is: be fair, and, more importantly, show that you are being fair by making policies clear and applying them equally to everyone. Once you've got that sorted, enjoy the bank holiday and the largess of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971!
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