Bank Holiday Question needs an answer please

bluenitsuj

Hi,

I posted something similar obout a year ago I believe but still getting no where. Please can someone in the Know, let me know the answer and what to do about it please.

Question. How much statutory holiday should someone who works Monday - Thursday ( 4 days ) 9 hours per day, so basically 36 hour week over 4 days.

I believe it is 22.4, also given 2 days for length of service = 24.5 days.

The company make me book a days holiday whenevr I WORK a bank holiday. bank holidays are my regular working day and the company opens as usual. After contacting ACAS, they say that this legal as I have the choice to take the day off on Bank Holidays. Because this is all pro rata they take off 5 days leaving me with an actual 17.4 days off ( not including length of service days ).

Is this legal, I thought the law sated that I had to physically have the time off.

Uncertain

bluenitsuj wrote: »

Hi,

I posted something similar obout a year ago I believe but still getting no where. Please can someone in the Know, let me know the answer and what to do about it please.

Question. How much statutory holiday should someone who works Monday - Thursday ( 4 days ) 9 hours per day, so basically 36 hour week over 4 days.

I believe it is 22.4, also given 2 days for length of service = 24.5 days.

The company make me book a days holiday whenevr I WORK a bank holiday. bank holidays are my regular working day and the company opens as usual. After contacting ACAS, they say that this legal as I have the choice to take the day off on Bank Holidays. Because this is all pro rata they take off 5 days leaving me with an actual 17.4 days off ( not including length of service days ).

Is this legal, I thought the law sated that I had to physically have the time off.

I'm struggling a little to understand your fourth paragraph.

If you work part time, but regular days, the easy way is to think in weeks for holiday purposes.

A full time person gets 5.6 weeks statutory holiday per year (28 days) so you would get 5.6 of your shorter four day weeks which calculates as 22.4 days so you are correct.

You may get more but can't get less. Within very few limits the company can tell you when to take your statutory holiday. The company can also apply any rules they like to the extra days (two in your case).

There is nothing special for employment law purposes about bank holidays, not even Christmas day.

So,if your company are trying to give you less than 24.5 days off then they are at fault.

paddedjohn

why would you have to book a day off if you are not off?

Acc72

bluenitsuj wrote: »

Question. How much statutory holiday should someone who works Monday - Thursday ( 4 days ) 9 hours per day, so basically 36 hour week over 4 days.

I don't disagree with what the others have said, but you need to refer to your own contract of employment in the first instance.

As a new manager I once made a fool of myself with a similar situation. One of my team was part time, and during a discussion I went on about pro-rating the holidays etc. until the employee said "that is not what my contract says ......"

Upon looking at the contract, they had somehow persuaded their previous manager to include seperate provisions whereby they got every bank holiday as a days holiday if it fell on a day that they usually worked. As they worked on a Monday they pretty much got them all apart from Good Friday.

Uncertain

Acc72 wrote: »

I don't disagree with what the others have said, but you need to refer to your own contract of employment in the first instance.

As a new manager I once made a fool of myself with a similar situation. One of my team was part time, and during a discussion I went on about pro-rating the holidays etc. until the employee said "that is not what my contract says ......"

Upon looking at the contract, they had somehow persuaded their previous manager to include seperate provisions whereby they got every bank holiday as a days holiday if it fell on a day that they usually worked. As they worked on a Monday they pretty much got them all apart from Good Friday.

Yes but the company cannot legally restrict the OP to LESS than the statutory minimum holiday regardless of what the contract says.

I've seen a situation where somebody who only worked on Mondays was given 20 days (pro rata) plus bank holidays if they fall on days normally worked! Obviously this is far more proportionally than the full time equivalent.

mariefab

Uncertain is absolutely correct.
The intention of statutory paid holiday entitlement in the Working Time Regulations is to allow workers time away from work for rest and recuperation.

How on earth do your employers consider that you can be both at work and on holiday on the same day?

bluenitsuj

mariefab wrote: »

Uncertain is absolutely correct.
The intention of statutory paid holiday entitlement in the Working Time Regulations is to allow workers time away from work for rest and recuperation.

How on earth do your employers consider that you can be both at work and on holiday on the same day?

I put in a formal complaint, which was addressed but the company stuck to their guns, and as ACAS supported them I do not know which way to go now. I know that they are wrong but it is very difficult when it is one person against a company, and also no other employees will speak up and challenge the situation. Very frustrating. :mad:

mariefab

When did you put in your formal complaint, was it in writing and did you get a written response?

KiKi

bluenitsuj wrote: »

Question. How much statutory holiday should someone who works Monday - Thursday ( 4 days ) 9 hours per day, so basically 36 hour week over 4 days.

I believe it is 22.4, also given 2 days for length of service = 24.5 days.

Correct.

The company make me book a days holiday whenevr I WORK a bank holiday. bank holidays are my regular working day and the company opens as usual. After contacting ACAS, they say that this legal as I have the choice to take the day off on Bank Holidays. Because this is all pro rata they take off 5 days leaving me with an actual 17.4 days off ( not including length of service days ).

Utter crap.

If you are off on a BH, then you have to take it from you total paid leave entitlement (22.5 days).

If you are working on a BH, then you just have another day's leave to use elsewhere in the working year, end of.

What your company is doing is unlawful, as you are not getting the minimum legal entitlement of 28 days pro rata.

HTH
KiKi

mountainofdebt

OP

Do you have a choice to work BH or is a holiday 'enforced' on you ?

If its the later then the company is right - there are 5 BH which fall on a monday in 2012 so in effect you have 17.4 (plus 2 discretionary) days which you can choose when to take

What I don't understand is why you have to book a holiday if you work a BH - what would happen if you were forced to book a holiday on a BH and then didn't turn up?

Vejovis

when you say work a BH, do you mean physically go into work, or when your work day happens to fall on a BH