Pro rata bank holiday entitlement for part timer

spiritus

when I started work at my current place I was told my position only warrants a four day week and I could choose which day off I could have. I chose Mondays as my regular day off.


My working hours are 31 hours a week.


I assumed (wrongly) that I would be entitled to my pro-rata share of the bank holidays that fall on Monday e.g. 20% of the 4 x bank holiday Mondays 2017.


There's another person in the company who does the same hours as me but he works Mon-Thurs meaning he get his annual holiday entitlement PLUS the bank holiday Mondays.


Am I way off course thinking I have a point ?

PasturesNew

Are you sure that when he has all these "additional bank holidays" they aren't knocked off his total.

You should both have the same amount of time off.

28 days full time (5 days)
22.4 days part time.

If there happened to be 22 bank holiday Mondays in the year then he'd not be able to choose any other days off.
If you worked Tue-Fri so none of those 22 Mondays affected you then you'd be free to choose all of your 22 days.

But at the end of the year you'd have both had the same total number of days off.

It wouldn't just be calculated based on the exact number of bank holiday Mondays in any one year, but across the whole annual leave amount (28 days).

spiritus

Not entirely sure as my colleague is senior management so different rules probably apply. Sorry if this might be a red herring example.


Excluding my colleague, is there an argument that I might be entitled to more than I am receiving based on the fact that other full time workers receive their annual holiday entitlement PLUS bank holidays whereas I only get my annual holidays and lose out on bank holidays as I happen to have that day off anyway ?


Is this not comparable to the practice of giving workers an day off in lieu when Christmas Day falls on a weekend ?

Undervalued

spiritus wrote: »

when I started work at my current place I was told my position only warrants a four day week and I could choose which day off I could have. I chose Mondays as my regular day off.


My working hours are 31 hours a week.


I assumed (wrongly) that I would be entitled to my pro-rata share of the bank holidays that fall on Monday e.g. 20% of the 4 x bank holiday Mondays 2017.


There's another person in the company who does the same hours as me but he works Mon-Thurs meaning he get his annual holiday entitlement PLUS the bank holiday Mondays.


Am I way off course thinking I have a point ?

What somebody else gets is irrelevant, there is no legal obligation to treat you both the same.

You are entitled to the pro rata equivalent of 5.6 weeks (ie 28 days) holiday per year. If you work a regular 4 day week then that is still 5.6 or your four day weeks which equates to 22.4 days holiday.

Bank holidays are irrelevant except that as your employer can dictate when you may take your holiday they can insist that you do not work on bank holidays.

There is no right to days in lieu, your entitlement is simply to a pro rata minimum of 28 days a year.

spiritus

Undervalued wrote: »

What somebody else gets is irrelevant, there is no legal obligation to treat you both the same.

You are entitled to the pro rata equivalent of 5.6 weeks (ie 28 days) holiday per year. If you work a regular 4 day week then that is still 5.6 or your four day weeks which equates to 22.4 days holiday.

Bank holidays are irrelevant except that as your employer can dictate when you may take your holiday they can insist that you do not work on bank holidays.

There is no right to days in lieu, your entitlement is simply to a pro rata minimum of 28 days a year.

Thanks and I do understand that. Bank holidays would be irrelevant if I worked in isolation. If the other 20 workers get their annual allowance and receive a bank holiday entitlement on top of that then should part timers not be treated equally (or at least fairly) ?


I know I have no right to days in lieu but it seems unfair that everyone else has a right to bank holidays whilst I don't have an entitlement to any by virtue of my days worked.

Undervalued

spiritus wrote: »

Thanks and I do understand that. Bank holidays would be irrelevant if I worked in isolation. If the other 20 workers get their annual allowance and receive a bank holiday entitlement on top of that then should part timers not be treated equally (or at least fairly) ?


I know I have no right to days in lieu but it seems unfair that everyone else has a right to bank holidays whilst I don't have an entitlement to any by virtue of my days worked.

It would be unlawful to treat you differently simply because you were part time so you must get the pro rata equivalent of what a full time person doing the same job would get.

However it is perfectly lawful to have two people doing the same job getting completely different rates of pay, benefits and holiday as long as they both get the legal minimum.

Unfair and unlawful are not necessarily the same thing!

Mersey_2

Undervalued wrote: »

However it is perfectly lawful to have two people doing the same job getting completely different rates of pay, benefits

It almost certainly wouldn't be though in many circumstances and could give rise to an equal pay claim. If it wasn't objective ie based on experience, quals etc the firm would be found wanting. I agree with the rest though.


As the OP says the other person is senior management, this probably accounts for the difference, as it's the norm for firms to have grades or salary bands and accompanying them will be eg 25 or 30 days pa of hols.


Although a recent case shows that some small firms must operate almost oblivious to the law until someone questions them: a poor lady hadn't questioned for over a decade that her work colleague received more pay and hols for doing the same job. Apparently it was only when she saw a programme re Court officers enforcing Judgments that she raised it. The firm still didn't budge so she issued proceedings and eventually received over £20k.