Maternity leave - bank holidays

Charcoll

Hoping someone knows about / has experience with the following as hitting a brick wall with HR at work

Im confused about whether I should be accruing bank holidays as paid holiday in addition to my standard holiday allowance - my standard holiday allowance is in excess of 29 days excluding the bank holiday and I normally would not work a bank holiday (so day off and pay received for it).

ive seen examples on CAS website that states that the BH should accrue during the maternity leave but my company are adamant they are wrong or in their words ‘they have a different interpretation’.

my employment contract refers to the entitlement to take as paid vacation the eight statutory uk bank holidays and this is where the issue is - they see it as a right to pay and I believe it is a right for holiday

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks

Masomnia

My view is you did not take the 8 bank holiday days as annual leave, you were on mat leave and these should carry forward to when you are back.

Comms69

Any holidays above the statutory (5.6 weeks) are subject to whatever terms and conditions the employer wants to impose.


I suspect many wouldn't impose restrictions for fear of maternity discrimination claims.

getmore4less

What happens when people are sick do they get substitute holidays for the BH?

What happens if you work a BH do you get a substitute day?

Charcoll

Sick leave - not entirely sure. If you are off the entire year then you are deemed to have taken your BH - this is not specifically stated for maternity leave

Alternate day - if you are required to work a BH then a different day can be taken

getmore4less

If they are excluding them from sick then that makes a discrimination claim on that basis a not starter.

probably worth a google on holiday and sick when the holidays are over statutory as I think there have been more cases covering that scenario.

Charcoll

.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/rights-at-work/parental-rights/rights-while-youre-on-maternity-leave/[/url]

Citizens advice states that it should still accrue - sorry, couldn’t figure out how to attach a screen shot

Comms69

I think citizens advice is often too simplistic. There is no fundamental difference between bank holidays and 'normal' annual leave days.

paddedjohn

Stat min is 28 days for a full time (5day week) worker and you are getting 29 so it may come down to what's in your contract as the extra days you are after are over and above the minimum

Savvy_Sue

Masomnia wrote: »

My view is you did not take the 8 bank holiday days as annual leave, you were on mat leave and these should carry forward to when you are back.

And I agree.

Comms69 wrote: »

Any holidays above the statutory (5.6 weeks) are subject to whatever terms and conditions the employer wants to impose.

I suspect many wouldn't impose restrictions for fear of maternity discrimination claims.

My understanding is that maternity is specifically excluded from that 'subject to whatever t&c the employer wants to impose' - or maybe, as you say, it's just the fear of discrimination claims!

getmore4less wrote: »

What happens when people are sick do they get substitute holidays for the BH?

Yes. Obviously you can't come in on Bank Holiday Tuesday and say "I was throwing up all yesterday so please can I have my BH day another day", but if you were signed off for a period which included a BH - at least where I worked - you'd have that BH added back to your leave entitlement.

Charcoll wrote: »

Sick leave - not entirely sure. If you are off the entire year then you are deemed to have taken your BH - this is not specifically stated for maternity leave

Not where I work, if you were on sick leave your BH would be 'rolled forward' to increase your leave entitlement on your return.

Masomnia

getmore4less wrote: »

If they are excluding them from sick then that makes a discrimination claim on that basis a not starter

I'm not sure about that. It seems obvious (to me anyway) that if the OP ends up with less favourable annual leave terms as a result of being on maternity leave that will be discriminatory; the fact the employer also treats employees on sick leave in a crappy way doesn't negate that.

Comms69 wrote: »

Any holidays above the statutory (5.6 weeks) are subject to whatever terms and conditions the employer wants to impose.

Employees on mat leave are entitled to their usual benefits, apart from remuneration, so they would accrue annual leave in their usual way according to their contract.