ADVICE
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CM’s legal guide in association with XpertHR Small Business Each month, XpertHR Small Business provides easy-to-digest advice on key personnel legislation. This month: employees’ rights and the glut of bank holidays this year and in 2012
Are my employees entitled to time off on bank holidays in addition to minimum statutory annual holiday?
Statutory annual holiday increased from four to 5.6 weeks between October 2007 and April 2009, meaning the minimum is now 28 days for someone working a ive-day week. There is no automatic entitlement to take time off on bank holidays in addition to this, unless the contract provides for this.
Prior to the increase in holiday from four to 5.6 weeks, many employers worded contracts to say that employees were entitled to “statutory entitlement plus bank holidays” . Previously, this wording would have granted an entitlement to 20 days’ leave (for an employee working a ive-day week) plus bank holidays. Following the increase, it denotes an entitlement to 28 days’ leave plus bank holidays. Check your employment contracts to see if this could be an issue.
How should I deal with an employee who refuses to work on a bank holiday?
If the employee does not have the contractual right to time off on bank holidays but refuses to attend work, you can treat this as a disciplinary issue.
However, if the employee is contractually entitled to take bank holidays as annual leave, you cannot insist that the employee works and cannot take any form of disciplinary action. You could seek the employee’s written agreement to work on the bank holiday in return for a day in lieu to be taken at some other time, or consider increasing the payment for the day as an incentive.
How should I deal with an employee who phones in sick on a bank holiday?
You should have clear rules on how you will address the issue of staff absenteeism on bank holidays. These could say that employees who call in sick may be subject to disciplinary action, unless you are satisied that the sickness was genuine.
Employees can be required to provide medical evidence that the absence was due to sickness, but keep in mind the practical dificulties of requiring someone who is genuinely ill to visit their GP and obtain a doctor’s certiicate for one day’s absence.
Many GPs are unwilling to provide certiication for very short periods of absence, and may charge for this service. You should agree to meet the cost of any doctor’s certiicate provided if this is the case.
Can I require my employees to work on bank holidays?
That depends, as there is no statutory right for employees to take bank holidays off work. Any right to time off depends on the terms of the employment contract. So, subject to the terms of the contract, you can require your employees to work on bank holidays.
Is an employee who has to work on a bank holiday entitled to extra pay?
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. Again, any right to extra pay depends on the terms of the employee’s contract of employment.
What are my employees’ rights where the government announces an extra bank holiday?
As before, this depends on the employment contract. If it says the employee’s annual leave entitlement is a certain number of days “plus bank holidays” , the employee will be entitled to the additional day off.
However, if the contract states that the entitlement is to a certain number of days, and is silent on the issue of bank holidays, the employee will not be entitled to an additional day’s leave.
In addition, the employee will not be entitled to an extra day if entitlement is expressed as a certain number of days “plus eight bank holidays”, or if the contract speciies which bank holidays are included.
● For answers to more questions on holiday entitlement, visit www. xperthr.co.uk/faqs