Bank Holidays and the law

  Posted on 23/08/2019

With the August Bank Holiday almost upon us, we thought it quite apt to post some information about employment law concerning bank holidays.

Here are 5 things you probably are not aware of.

1) There is no statutory right for employees to take bank holidays off. Time off depends on the employee’s contract of employment.

2) If you work your bank holiday, there is no statutory right to extra pay. Any right to extra pay depends on upon the employee’s contract of employment

3) Part-time workers have the same rights as full-time workers, including entitlement to bank holidays. The best practice is to give part-time employees a pro-rated allowance of bank holidays.

4) If an employee is required to work on bank holidays, under the terms of their employment, they are not allowed to refuse to work – even for religious reasons.

5) However, if an employer refuses to grant Christian employees time off for a bank holiday of religious significance, it could amount to indirect religious significance. If your employer has worded a contract to say that employees are entitled to “statutory entitlement plus bank holidays,” this no longer denotes 20 days’ leave plus 8 bank holidays. In 2009 there was an increase in statutory minimum leave from four to 5.6 weeks; the wording grants 28 days’ holiday with eight bank holidays on top. You need to check your contract. In addition, according to the holiday entitlement rights at https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights, “Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave. An employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of a worker’s statutory annual leave.”

Whilst you're here, why not register your CV, and be alerted to the latest job opportunities.

You can also download our app, and be alerted when you're on the go.

If you're a client and you need some help with recruiting staff, send us your recruitment brief.