Part time holiday entitlement help required

Sallyanne100

Looking for some help regarding holiday entitlement and bank holidays.  

I work for a relatively small company in England, the HR side of things is very poor. I have raised the following question a few times, but never really given a proper answer or explanation. 

My situation is that I have a permanent part-time job; working four days a week - Tuesday to Friday, for 5 fixed hours each day. I do not work on Mondays, (but the business is open on Mondays). 

My contract states that statutory holiday will be paid, plus bank holidays. 

The question is, what is my pro rata holiday entitlement, bearing in mind that I do not work on Mondays? 

Just to add, the company does not operate on bank holidays, it is closed. 

A previous employer when I worked part time used to adjust my entitlement at the start of every year (according to how many bank holidays landed on a day I did not work - e.g if I did not work on a Friday, but 2 bank holidays fell on a Friday during that year - those 2 days would be added to my entitlement ). 

However, my current employer says their accounting system automatically works hours and entitlement out, regardless of which day it is that you work. I just do not know if I am losing out or not on my entitlement. For example, there are 6 bank holiday Mondays in 2023. Hypothetically, if I had Wednesday as a day off instead of a Monday - then I would be gaining, whereas currently it appears I may be losing out?

I have been allocated 108 hours holiday this year, from Jan-Dec 2023.

I may be getting this completely and utterly wrong, but thought I would ask the question. 

Appreciate any feedback on this matter would be helpful. 

Puddings

What is the full time holiday entitlement? Ultimately working 4 days per week, you'll get 4/5 of the entitlement. 

Savvy_Sue

As I say to my colleagues, those working 4 days pw who work on Mondays have less choice about when they take the leave than those who do not work on Mondays, but they each get exactly the same no. of days.

Undervalued

Sallyanne100 said:

Looking for some help regarding holiday entitlement and bank holidays.  

I work for a relatively small company in England, the HR side of things is very poor. I have raised the following question a few times, but never really given a proper answer or explanation. 

My situation is that I have a permanent part-time job; working four days a week - Tuesday to Friday, for 5 fixed hours each day. I do not work on Mondays, (but the business is open on Mondays). 

My contract states that statutory holiday will be paid, plus bank holidays. 

The question is, what is my pro rata holiday entitlement, bearing in mind that I do not work on Mondays? 

Just to add, the company does not operate on bank holidays, it is closed. 

A previous employer when I worked part time used to adjust my entitlement at the start of every year (according to how many bank holidays landed on a day I did not work - e.g if I did not work on a Friday, but 2 bank holidays fell on a Friday during that year - those 2 days would be added to my entitlement ). 

However, my current employer says their accounting system automatically works hours and entitlement out, regardless of which day it is that you work. I just do not know if I am losing out or not on my entitlement. For example, there are 6 bank holiday Mondays in 2023. Hypothetically, if I had Wednesday as a day off instead of a Monday - then I would be gaining, whereas currently it appears I may be losing out?

I have been allocated 108 hours holiday this year, from Jan-Dec 2023.

I may be getting this completely and utterly wrong, but thought I would ask the question. 

Appreciate any feedback on this matter would be helpful. 

The exact wording of your contract regarding the lines I have highlighted is important.

Are you saying, if you were full time you would get a total of 36 days holiday a year (28 statutory plus the 8 bank holidays)? That may be the case but it would be quite a high holiday entitlement.

Legally you cannot be treated less favourably (obviously pro rata) just because you are part time. However, perversely, a part time employee can be treated more favourably than a full time employee. I once knew somebody who worked two days a week for a large university on Mondays and Fridays. Because of the (probably badly drafted) contract they were given they gained considerably on the holiday front! The HR department made quite a fuss about it but in the end backed down, as it was probably their fault!

Also, legally, there is noting special about bank holidays. There is no entitlement to them (even Christmas day) but an employer can dictate when you take your holiday so if they choose to close on a bank holiday then they are simply instructing employees to take the day as part of their holiday entitlement.

r6mile

Everyone has the right to a minimum 5.6 weeks of annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays). On the basis of a 5-hour working day and a 20 hour working week that you have, your entitlement should be 112 hours inclusive of BHs. So if that allowance is not inclusive of bank holidays, you might be slightly shortchanged by 4 hours.

However, if that allowance does not include BHs, given that there are two bank holidays in 2023 that fall on your working days (Good Friday and Boxing Day), then that I think you are getting an extra 6 hours above the minimum.

Sallyanne100

r6mile said:

Everyone has the right to a minimum 5.6 weeks of annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays). On the basis of a 5-hour working day and a 20 hour working week that you have, your entitlement should be 112 hours inclusive of BHs. So if that allowance is not inclusive of bank holidays, you might be slightly shortchanged by 4 hours.

However, if that allowance does not include BHs, given that there are two bank holidays in 2023 that fall on your working days (Good Friday and Boxing Day), then that I think you are getting an extra 6 hours above the minimum.

They have now changed my entitlement to 108 hours - trying to work out if this is now correct?

Undervalued

Sallyanne100 said:

r6mile said:

Everyone has the right to a minimum 5.6 weeks of annual leave (inclusive of bank holidays). On the basis of a 5-hour working day and a 20 hour working week that you have, your entitlement should be 112 hours inclusive of BHs. So if that allowance is not inclusive of bank holidays, you might be slightly shortchanged by 4 hours.

However, if that allowance does not include BHs, given that there are two bank holidays in 2023 that fall on your working days (Good Friday and Boxing Day), then that I think you are getting an extra 6 hours above the minimum.

They have now changed my entitlement to 108 hours - trying to work out if this is now correct?

As I said in an earlier post, it depends on the exact wording of your contract.

In your first post you say.....

My contract states that statutory holiday will be paid, plus bank holidays. 

Are you sure that is correct as it would mean a full time employee gets 36 days paid holiday per year (28 days statutory plus 8 BHs)? Whilst that is not impossible it would be unusually high for a small company.

More common would be 5.6 weeks / 28 days in total which is the statutory minimum.

If so then your entitlement would be to 5.6 of your weeks, which are each made up of 4 five-hour days.

I calculate that to be be 112 hours and not the 108 you mention!

It is unlawful to treat a part time employee less favourably, just because they are part time. It is also unlawful to give any employee less than the statutory holiday entitlement.

So, if my maths are right you are at least four hours short and possibly quite a bit more if full time employees, in comparable posts in your company, really do get a total of 36 days holiday.

Sallyanne100

They have admitted that they had been giving all the full time staff way too much holiday. So have now adjusted it.

My contract has one line regarding holiday which states ‘that statutory holiday will be paid, plus bank holidays.’ 

Therefore I think the 112 hours should be the correct allocation. I have asked the question to them this morning, and waiting a response. 

Undervalued

Sallyanne100 said:

They have admitted that they had been giving all the full time staff way too much holiday. So have now adjusted it.

My contract has one line regarding holiday which states ‘that statutory holiday will be paid, plus bank holidays.’ 

Therefore I think the 112 hours should be the correct allocation. I have asked the question to them this morning, and waiting a response. 

If they find a way of reducing the full time employees holiday entitlement, then yours would be correct (give or take the 108 / 112 hour discrepancy). What they cannot do is give you less, pro rata, than a full time person in a comparable role, just because you are part time. They can however give different employees different amount of holiday for other reasons (e.g seniority, length of service or simply because that person negotiated a better deal) so getting a comparison may be difficult.