New employer making me take bank holidays out of my holiday

[Bunnyflop7]

As a result I only have 14 days to take for the entire year. I have kids and it’s going to be ridiculously hard to cover holidays. Never ever had this at another employer.

is this commonplace?

Yeah I used to work part time and Monday. It’s was crap but the alternative if those that don’t work mondays get far less holidays.
The good thing is the bank holidays often coincide with school holidays so you often need them off anyway when you have kids.
I would never choose to work a Monday though. It eats into your ability to take full weeks off with your leave.

I'm really surprised that some people count this as normal. I've only ever worked for companies where you get a standard amount of leave - at the moment current company is 25 days and then we get bank holidays on top of this and they give us an extra one or two days over Christmas in addition to our annual leave. I must admit I always thought it was standard practice, so I tend to agree with you it seems stingy. I would be looking for a job elsewhere.

You should get full A/L allowance plus 8 BH then x 0.8 for 4 days.

When I worked 4 days/week (0.8FTE) I used to have (25+8) x0.8 = 26.4
or 20 days A/L + 6.4 BH days
So I did have to use 1.5 days annual leave if BHs didn’t fall on my non working days.
Was v annoying.

I can’t work out your calculation though but hope it’s useful seeing how mine used to work.

DD works part time for a major supermarket, her working days are Monday Tuesday Wednesday she requested December 26th Monday & 27th Tuesday as they are BH this year. They have been refused.

It’s common practise in my work place to have your total holiday entitlement and then deduct your bank hols from it. I also work for a very well known corporate company.

it should state in your contract but if you work part time then this will effect how many days you get as it will be pro rata. If you’re not sure then speak to your HR team

This is totally normal.

If you’re working 4 days out of 5 it would be unfair for you to get 20 days, the same as someone working 5 days a week, as it would mean you would have more weeks off a year - you would only need to use 4 days to get a week off, whereas FT workers need to use 5 days to get a week off.

Yes because Monday is your set day. So you have to use your annual leave entitlement.

Unless you ask if on a back holiday week, if you can do your 25 hours tues-Friday instead.

It’s because she’s PT

In that situation I would just work the Tuesday of that week so that I’m still working my 4 days and having the Monday as my day off. Would they let you do that?

but yes, as others are saying, this is right due to the days you work, sorry.

My employer does this - as pp ask to work tues - Friday bank holiday weeks and use those extra hours when needed.

You keep saying it's not fair that you lose a third of your holiday to bank holidays but this is the same as the full time workers. They get 28 days but bank holidays mean they lose 8 of those straight away, leaving 20. You work 80% of their hours and get 80% of the holiday. I don't understand what you were expecting? Part time hours with full time holiday allowance? Paid bank holidays without using your annual leave? The ability to take bank holidays off unpaid so it doesn't come out of your leave?

If a full timer gets 20 days plus 8 bank holidays (28 days), if you work 4 days (80%) of the work week, you get 80% of the holiday. 28*80%=22.5 including bank holidays for a full year. It'll be pro rated for new starters. You still get the same amount of time off. 28 days / 5=5.6 weeks holiday. 22.5 days / 4 = 5.6 weeks holiday.

So you would have the same amount, if you work Mondays you just have less choice WHEN to take them. Change your day off and have Fridays off.

I work 24 hours over 4 days and get 14 days holiday plus bank holidays - what were you expecting?

When does the leave year start?

They are correct unfortunately as you're pt you have a pro rata allowance which includes your a/l and your bh. Working days that fall on bh need to come out of that.
It's pretty standard it's also what we do in our organisation.
Great if you dont work Mondays bit of a shitter if you do, Fridays are my nwd so I gain good friday as dont need to book it but yes need to book the others

I get 28 days which includes bank holidays. My contract is clear on this though. We do get all the time between Christmas day and New Years day off as a bonus though so it's not so bad.

Your bank holidays should be pro rata'd. So I am 60% FTE which means I get 60% of the total hours of the bank holidays (full time people obvs get all of them).

If, on the other hand, no one gets bank holidays at your job, that's a different matter.

To add, this means that I actually get holiday taken away from me. So, for example, I work Mondays and bank holidays usually fall on a Monday. So to be make it fair, I get those hours taken off my total holiday allowance as I am not entitled to them.

So it shouldn't make a difference if you work Mondays or not.

Would they let you work the Tuesday instead - just on the weeks when a bank holiday falls?

@Bunnyflop7 when you take a day off how many hours are you deducting?

my old company got it wrong and prorated my holiday and expected me to take a full day off even though i only worked 4 hours a day.

Sounds pretty normal and correct. My place does the same so I chose not to work Mondays.

Yep I don't get to keep the bank holidays for when I want them, I just have to take them. Its pretty standard. You will be treated the same as the others in your work, why should it be any different for you than them? You work part time hours, you wont get as much annual leave as a full time employee.

Agreed - there is no requirement to give bank holidays as paid leave. However, if not, 28 days (or pro rata if part time) have to be given at other times.

Most companies who give the legal minimum say ‘20 days plus bank holidays’, they don’t spring the bank holidays on you at the last minute!

www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights gives the details.

Basically, OP this is legal but I agree they shouldn’t have sprung it on you.

Hi, I work part time and yes my leave is pro-rated, including the bank holidays. So 25 days leave +8 days bank holiday then times by 0.6 (as I'm a 21 hours). I work Mondays to and it right hacks me off as like you say it disproportionately takes my leave allowance. I've agreed I can work another day of the week with bank holiday Mondays to help make it less of an issue.

HOWEVER I read you work 25 hours over 4 days. In which case I would ask for your leave to be calculated in hours and book your time off in hours. When I worked reduced hours with different lengths over different days this was the fairest way of doing it.

I have just swapped to having Mondays off for this reason. This year is particularly bad as Xmas day is on a Sunday so the Xmas and New Year bank holidays will be on a Monday. It will be the same next year as well.

Options:-

1. Stop working Mondays (I know you have the pointless meeting but perhaps a different meeting that you must go to could be arranged on a Tuesday 😉)
2. Can you fiddle your hours so that Monday is a shorter day and you work longer on other days - might help you squeeze an extra day out
3. Work the Tuesday on bank holiday weeks
4. Most bank holiday weeks are in school holidays anyway so take these weeks off - you will only need 3 days holiday to cover it
5. My favourite trick is to do the odd extra day here and there “as we are so busy this week” and so claim as time in lieu. My work is always ridiculously busy so I can do this whenever I feel like it. Only works if you have kids in school though.