ASDA and Bank Holiday 2nd January 2012

Lokolo_2

mountainofdebt wrote: »

tbh I would join a union now - think from memory it only costs about £1.35 per week.

Personally I can see a time when companies will stop paying extra time for bank holidays as there seems that this issue of whether a day is a bank holiday seems to crop up time after time and especially now that the statutory minimum holidays now include a provision for bank holidays as well.

Exactly, and employers don't have to pay extra for you working those Bank Holidays unless it's in your contract. The 2nd Jan Bank Holiday is really in lieu of today as most office workers would miss their Bank Holiday otherwise, so for a Business that is open on the 1st, it is fair that they chose on which day the Bank Holiday is on.

I have a working example of my 2 employers:

A well known train company in the South, Bank Holidays are just normal days, no extra is paid for working them.

Whilst I also work for Wilkinson, where we get Double time paid for any hours worked on a Bank Holiday, although the store is closed today, it is open tomorrow which removes any arguments about on which day the Bank Holiday falls!

LittleVoice

squidgysponge wrote: »

I spoke to an employment law solicitor yesterday and he believes that this is the case and most retail stores will be pushing for this over the next year. Of-course it does not affect your statutory holiday entitlement of 28 days per year (which includes bank holidays if the employer designates them as part of the holiday entitltement or the employee books them from as such - they are not automatically included). So I will still be entitled to this amount, but the issue of paying more on bank holidays will be needed to be looked into further.

I will keep this post updated with any news.

.................

chellebelle68

Before Christmas I checked out the Bank hols at directgov. I then sat down with my team leader to fill in an availability form for my Christmas hours during this conversation I told them that I would not be working the Bank holidays.
Today at 12.15 I get a call (not from any of my managers but the poor receptionist who got the short straw) asking where I was, on a monday my shift would normally start at 12.
I was told that there are posters all over the store stating that today is NOT a Bank holiday and that all staff are required to work their normal shifts ( I have not seen any posters )
I told them that I was not working the Bank hols, to which they replied that Jan 2nd is not recognised by ASDA as a Bank hol, I replied that the government states that it is and that as I had already made plans I would not be in.
My manager said that I would be out down as AWOL which will lead to an investigation and probably a disciplinary!!!!
Also meaning that I will not be paid as I should for a Bank hols!!!
So very angry that ASDA thinks they out rank the government and that they can bully and abuse their employees in this way!!!:mad:

squidgysponge

Ring the ASDA law club and discuss it with them. You pay a 10p a week from your monthly wages to have this service, so you may aswell use it. The number is 08701200717 leave your walmart number and a message.

No one is there today, because guess what? Its a bank holiday!

A solicitor will ring you back and speak to you regarding your employment query.

So today I worked as normal for normal wages. Home shopping wasn't a normal day, just half as much staff and twice as busy because there was only allocated 14 van loads instead of the normal 28 with 150 orders for the day. And those who came in expected to work normal shifts were told to put a holiday in or they wouldn't be paid for it!

Go figure.

mountainofdebt

chellebelle68 wrote: »

Before Christmas I checked out the Bank hols at directgov. I then sat down with my team leader to fill in an availability form for my Christmas hours during this conversation I told them that I would not be working the Bank holidays.
Today at 12.15 I get a call (not from any of my managers but the poor receptionist who got the short straw) asking where I was, on a monday my shift would normally start at 12.
I was told that there are posters all over the store stating that today is NOT a Bank holiday and that all staff are required to work their normal shifts ( I have not seen any posters )
I told them that I was not working the Bank hols, to which they replied that Jan 2nd is not recognised by ASDA as a Bank hol, I replied that the government states that it is and that as I had already made plans I would not be in.
My manager said that I would be out down as AWOL which will lead to an investigation and probably a disciplinary!!!!
Also meaning that I will not be paid as I should for a Bank hols!!!
So very angry that ASDA thinks they out rank the government and that they can bully and abuse their employees in this way!!!:mad:

why would be paid for a bank holiday you refused to work?

Can't have it both ways hun.

Torry_Quine

mountainofdebt wrote: »

why would be paid for a bank holiday you refused to work?

Can't have it both ways hun.

I agree. Today is a holiday in lieu of the 1st January which works for Mon - Fri workers. However as ASDA were open on the 1st then it makes sense that would be the date that's the holiday and paid accordingly. She really should have confirmed all this before assuming which days were the holidays.

t0rt0ise

Torry_Quine wrote: »

I agree. Today is a holiday in lieu of the 1st January which works for Mon - Fri workers. However as ASDA were open on the 1st then it makes sense that would be the date that's the holiday and paid accordingly. She really should have confirmed all this before assuming which days were the holidays.

Even Asda can't just declare that the 2nd isn't a Bank Holiday. It is whatever they say. They can say they won't pay extra for it as long as the contracts don't say otherwise, but they can't just choose that it isn't a Bank Holiday.

Torry_Quine

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Even Asda can't just declare that the 2nd isn't a Bank Holiday. It is whatever they say. They can say they won't pay extra for it as long as the contracts don't say otherwise, but they can't just choose that it isn't a Bank Holiday.

To clarify, (although its perfectly clear), if a business is normally open at the weekend they are perfectly entitled to say that the day they will give any enhanced bank holiday payments will be the actual holiday rather than the day in lieu which in this case was today. However for a business not open at the weekend then it will be the day in lieu which would qualify.

corbyboy

Surely this situation is easily cleared up by what's stated in your contract and/or Asda's employee T&Cs.

If your contract states you will receive enhanced pay on Public Holidays then 2 January is a Public Holiday. If it's in black and white in your contract then there is nothing Asda can do about it. Sunday 1 January is not a Public Holiday whereas Monday 2 January is.

If Asda have stated in your contract that enhanced pay is at their discretion then they have played by their rules fairly.

So what does your contract say?

t0rt0ise

Torry_Quine wrote: »

To clarify, (although its perfectly clear), if a business is normally open at the weekend they are perfectly entitled to say that the day they will give any enhanced bank holiday payments will be the actual holiday rather than the day in lieu which in this case was today. However for a business not open at the weekend then it will be the day in lieu which would qualify.

Which is not what you said first time! It is now perfectly clear whereas it wasn't the way you said it before.