Topic of the week: Statutory holiday entitlement and bank holidays
In this week's topic of the week article, Sarah-Marie Williams and Nathasha Aly of Clyde & Co LLP look at statutory holiday entitlement and bank holidays.
The importance of making contractual terms clear in relation to time off on bank holidays is explained.
- Topic of the week: Statutory holiday entitlement and bank holidays The rights of part-time employees and employees on maternity leave, in relation to bank holidays, are explored.
Previous articles in this topic of the week series
Statutory holiday entitlement: overview Details of how the recent increase in statutory holiday entitlement affects workers are included.
More from HR & Compliance Centre on statutory holiday entitlement and related topics
HR & Compliance Centre subscribers have access to a wealth of material on statutory holiday entitlement and related topics - ranging from FAQs on bank holidays to policies and documents on sickness and holidays. We pick out just some of the information available on the subject.
Increase in statutory holiday entitlement
The Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) determine the statutory entitlement to paid holiday. Amendments to the Regulations brought about increases to the entitlement, in two stages. From 1 October 2007 the right to paid holiday was increased from four weeks to 4.8 weeks per year. On 1 April 2009 the entitlement increased further to 5.6 weeks. See the Holiday and holiday pay section of the HR & Compliance Centre employment law manual and How to manage workers' statutory entitlement to paid holiday for details of statutory holiday rights.
Employers that offer only the statutory minimum holiday entitlement must adjust their terms and conditions to accommodate the increase. Use our model policies and documents on Holiday and holiday pay to help to ensure legal compliance. For example:
- Holiday policy
- Contract clause on holiday entitlement and Working Time Regulations 1998
- Letter informing of an increase in an employee's holiday entitlement on 1 April 2009
A relevant agreement may provide for up to 1.6 weeks' leave (ie the amount by which statutory holiday has increased) to be carried forward into the following annual leave year:
See also Annual leave 2009: the IRS survey of employer practice from IRS Employment Review, which finds little change in annual leave entitlements from IRS's 2007 research.
Bank holidays
The Government increased the statutory holiday entitlement to fulfil its manifesto commitment to extend the right to leave to include the equivalent of the eight public and bank holidays in England and Wales. However, workers do not have the statutory right to take holidays on bank and public holidays. The right to time off and whether or not employees may be required to work on those days is determined by the contract of employment.
XpertHR's Bank and public holidays contract clause in the policies and documents section can be used to set out an employer's rules on bank and public holidays, when drafting an employee's contract or terms and conditions of employment.
XpertHR's FAQs provide answers to related questions on bank holidays:
- What are bank holidays?
- Can bank holidays be included in a worker's statutory leave entitlement?
- Are part-time workers entitled to bank holidays?
The HR & Compliance Centre quick reference section provides details of the bank holidays for 2009, 2010 and 2011.
Statutory holiday and maternity leave
How should employers deal with statutory holiday entitlement when an employee is on maternity leave? In Merino Gómez v Continental Industrias del Caucho SA [2004] IRLR 407 ECJ, reported in the HR & Compliance Centre case reports section, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that pregnant workers have a dual entitlement to annual leave and maternity leave. Statutory annual leave should be protected and it should be possible for an employee to take it during a period other than the maternity leave period. Therefore, employers should allow employees who are unable to take their leave due to maternity leave to take holiday at another time.
How to deal with the holiday entitlement of a woman taking maternity leave in the HR & Compliance Centre "how to" section sets out what employers should do.
Holidays and sickness
There are a number of resources on HR & Compliance Centre to help employers deal with the problem of employees who go off sick before and during their holiday. For example:
- Policy and procedure on sickness occurring during or just before a period of holiday
- Contract clause on employees falling sick during holiday
- How to deal effectively with sickness that occurs during or just before a period of holiday
In Stringer and others v HM Revenue and Customs sub nom Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Ainsworth and others; Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund [2009] IRLR 214 ECJ, also reported in the HR & Compliance Centre case reports section, the ECJ held that the right to paid annual leave continues to accrue during sick leave and, on termination of the employment relationship, a worker who has been on sick leave and unable to take paid annual leave is entitled to a payment in lieu. The case was referred back to the House of Lords, to apply UK law to the ECJ's ruling. The House of Lords heard the case on 30 April 2009 and a judgment is awaited.
