question about bank holidays and compressed work pattern

[goingbacktowork]

I expect the answer to this is quite technical.

I know that when one works part time you are entitled to a pro rated amount of bank holidays and the number is affected by what days of the week you work (so that is you work a part time week including a Monday you may end up having to use your holiday to cover the bank hoidays you have off but that if you do not work on Mondays you may end up with extra days holiday to compensate you for the bank holidays which fall on days on which you do not work). However what bank holidays are you entitled to if, for example, you work a compressed work pattern say working 5 days in 4 days (i.e. 35 hours over 4 days) and you do not normally work a Monday?

Thanks very much.

[Grevling]

Same as working 4 days a week as any holiday you accrue is 10 hours not std 8 as you are taking 10 hours off.

[flowery]

What Grevling said. It makes no difference how many hours a day someone works, the number of days they get off is still the same. Someone working 3 hours a day gets paid for 3 hours when they take a day's leave, someone working 10 hours a day gets paid 10 hours each time.

[goingbacktowork]

that doesn't sound right unless I am misunderstanding. If you work 5 days in 4 you are effectively working a full week and so you should be entitled to all bank holidays - that mudt be the start position. correct? I am sure I am missing something.

[flowery]

Don't try and differentiate bank holidays from normal holiday, it confuses the issue.

If you work a compressed week you get exactly the same amount of paid time off in hours as you did previously. The only difference is the number of days has gone down. Just as the amount you get paid for each working day has gone up, similarly the amount you get paid for each day you take off has gone up, meaning overall you are getting the same amount of time off.

[lurkingsnurker]

I work this pattern (5 days in 4, so 8.75 hours per day). I take Fridays off. I get 28 days leave, but when I take a day off it is effectively 8.75 hours instead of 7... Make sense?

So, to calculate my holiday, I convert my 28 days into hours (196). I then add bank hols on, (9*7hours this year), so total leave this year 63+196=259. This is because otherwise I would lose out on weeks where a bank hol is a Friday... as I would have done a whole week by cop Thursday - are you still with me?!

Importantly, where a bank hol isn't on a Friday, you need to record it as a days leave at your daily hourly rate, otherwise you are gaining hours I think!

I think this is the fairest way, but if anyone has a better way I am interested as have always struggled!!

[goingbacktowork]

sort of understand - would it make a difference if I did flexi time instead - say 35 hours however you liked. Then one would have full holiday and bank holidays. Do you agree it makes a difference? Thanks

[welshdeb]

Ok first you need to work out your entitlement in hours. If you are 50% you get 50% entitlement and so on.
If you are 100% you get 100% of the entitlement. Calculate your leave and bank holidays according to your entitlement.
Then get a calendar and work out when the bank holidays fall. Allocate a standard days hours on any days you would be expected to work. You should get an amount of hours left over. Add this to your leave. Divide by your standard day and this will give you your total leave allocation for the year.
This method of calculation also works if you work Mondays except you may have to deduct hours from your annual leave to cover the bank holidays.
Obviously this assumes you work the same pattern and hours all year.

[flowery]

It will make no difference to the amount of paid time off you get.

If a full week is 35 hours then everyone working 35 hours in whatever permutation will get the same amount of time off. 35 hours over 5 days is 7 hours a day, so a 'normal' full timer will get 28 x 7 = 196 hours.

If you work 35 hours in 4 days it is 8.75 hours a day, so although the number of days goes down to 22.5, the number of hours is the same.

If you do flexitime and hours are very variable it might be better to literally have your holiday entitlement in hours.

[domesticslattern]

Incidentally, when you work PT not all employers necessarily pro rata the bank holidays. Mine doesn't bother.
Which is why I choose to work Mondays so I get all the bank holiday Mondays, but I don't get any benefit at all out if this year's one-off Bank Holiday on a Friday.
I know that wasn't your question BTW.