Additional 2012 bank holiday announced
The Government has announced that there will be an additional bank holiday in June 2012 as part of the celebrations to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee. The late May bank holiday will be moved to 4 June 2012 and an extra bank holiday will be added on 5 June 2012. There will therefore be a total of nine bank holidays in England and Wales in 2012.
Bank holidays raise a number of issues for employers to get to grips with, particularly relating to employees’ rights to time off and payment. This checklist sets out the basics on employees’ rights around bank holidays. Further FAQs answering employers’ questions on bank holidays can be found in the HR & Compliance Centre FAQs section.
- There is no statutory right for employees to take bank holidays off work. Any right to time off depends on the terms of the employee’s contract of employment.
- There is no statutory right to extra pay, for example time and a half or double time, when an employee works on a bank holiday. Any right to extra pay depends on the terms of the employee’s contract of employment.
- Employees who work a five-day week are entitled to a minimum of 28 days’ annual leave, which may include bank holidays. If employees’ holiday entitlement is limited to the statutory minimum and they work on a bank holiday, they must be allowed to take a day off at another time so that their total paid leave is 28 days per year.
- If employees’ contractual holiday entitlement is more than the statutory minimum and they work on a bank holiday, whether or not they are entitled to pay in lieu of time off, or additional holiday, depends on the terms of the employment contract, or any custom and practice in the business.
- Part-time employees must not be treated less favourably than comparable full-time employees in their entitlement to bank holidays. The best practice – and safest – approach is to give part-time employees a pro rated allowance of paid bank holidays, irrespective of whether or not they normally work on the days on which bank holidays fall.
- Following the increase in statutory minimum leave from four to 5.6 weeks, employers should check the wording of employment contracts. If a contract states that holiday entitlement is "statutory entitlement plus bank holidays" this now denotes 28 days plus bank holidays. In 2012, this would amount to a total of 37 days’ holiday due to the additional bank holiday.
For the dates of all bank holidays up to and including 2012 see holiday in the HR & Compliance Centre quick reference section.
A model contract clause on bank holiday entitlement for inclusion in an employee’s terms and conditions can be found in the HR & Compliance Centre policies and documents section. A model contract clause relating specifically to part-time workers is also available.
The question of entitlement to bank holidays for part-time workers who do not usually work on Mondays (when most bank holidays fall) was addressed in the case of McMenemy v Capita Business Services Ltd [2007] IRLR 400 CS. The HR & Compliance Centre case reports section includes explanation of the case and its implications for employers.
Statutory holiday entitlement: bank holidays Sarah-Marie Williams and Nathasha Aly of Clyde & Co LLP examine various issues for employers concerning bank holidays and highlight the importance of making contractual terms clear in relation to time off on bank holidays.
