Part time workers and bank holidays. Fair or unfair?

[crunchiesnuts]

I know that it’s completely legal and up to the employer, but I’m just curious about what people think about this.

I’m part of a small team (there are 7 of us in total). Everyone works full time, 5 days a week, except for one person who is part time, working 3 days a week. This person works Monday-Wednesday. When there’s a bank holiday, they switch their days and work from Tuesday to Thursday instead. Like I said, I know this is all above board and our manager is fine with it, but the rest of the team feels it’s a bit unfair since they don’t have a say and have to use their annual leave regardless.

I’m kind of torn on it. I know this person asked to work Mondays when she took the job, so it feels a bit like having the best of both worlds, but I also get not wanting to burn through almost all your annual leave just for the bank holidays. Recently, this person has mentioned how she doesn’t complain about the fact that the rest of us get more holidays and better pay (which is a bit confusing since we work more hours, so naturally, we would), but it’s stirred up some tension in the office, and I guess, some people think she’s rubbing it in their face. I’m just interested in hearing what others think. Even though it’s legal, do you see it as fair or unfair?

She is choosing to work 3 days that week and have a 2 day week another time.

that’s what the full timers object to. Having the choice.

What are you talking about. She works her 3 days a week. She isn’t getting anything ‘extra’. Stop being ridiculous

I think the team should be doing a bit more work and talking less nonsense. Sounds like none of you (including the part time worker) understand what 'pro rata' means. Regarding the bank holidays, if that is her agreement with the management, that's between them.

But if she was made to take a bank holiday Monday off, presumably she’d have to have 2/5 of a day deducted from her annual leave, as she’d only actually be given 3/5 of a day for a bank holiday? It’s not fair to force her into taking AL that she doesn’t want to take - that wouldn’t happen to a full-timer and therefore would be discriminatory. It’s perfectly fair that she works a different 3 days in those weeks. It doesn’t affect you at all so mind your own business.

But you would have had a day off each bank holiday and she wouldn’t have.

This is something you need to take up with management or HR then. It's not part time colleagues fault they allow her to swap her day. You say you're offered to work from home bank holiday so does it get offered at double time if you take the option to work it?

You have a statutory right to 28 days holiday per year. 20 of which you can use as you please.
Your colleague has a right to 16.8 days holiday per year.
If she was forced to take every bank holiday Monday off she'd be left with only 8.8 days holiday to use as she pleases, giving her significantly less 'take whenever' holiday proportionately than you. That would be unfair.
Allowing her to swap her day providing this causes no extra work for others or interferes with business needs is a sensible way to manage it.
Strictly speaking to be entirely fair, she would have 12 'take whenever' holiday days rather than her current 14.8 (assuming you're all forced to have Christmas and NYD off) so she gains a little over you if she takes every BHM.

' It’s not fair to force her into taking AL that she doesn’t want to take - that wouldn’t happen to a full-timer and therefore would be discriminatory.'

It does happen to the full-timers though, they are forced to take the BH on that day as part of their annual leave allowance. That's why OP is upset. Because the part timer 'doesn't' have to take it that day. OP's benefit is more money, that's life.

Solution for OP - go part time.

No issue - she gets paid for three days and works three days. If the company are happy for her to flex those three days then that’s fine.

I have a basic understanding of bank holiday entitlement but in theory she shouldn't be changing her days to suit when it is a bank holiday! Her leave entitlement should be worked out with her working Mondays.

I get it OP why you are miffed!

I have a colleague who only works Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and she gets extra leave but colleagues who work Monday - Wednesday have less leave.

I would be having a word with your manager if it was me

Yes, I pointed this out earlier (without the maths), that because she accrues less, she has less choice for when she takes her AL if she has to take the BH. It's not usually too much of an issue because she has longer weekends, but it's more of an issue if she wants to take blocks of 2 weeks or a week of for instance. She has less AL days to play with.

Why? it won't make it better for you, you just want it WORSE for her.

Neither get more or less leave than the other (assuming holiday is processed correctly)

one has a bit more flexibility in when they take the days off but both get sane total number of days off.

Having a word and saying what?
"Please can you make sure Brenda takes off 2.8 bank holiday Mondays every year, so that she gets exactly 0.6 of the amount of leave to take as she pleases as the rest of us? Because our sense of injustice that Brenda can choose what she does with 2.8 days more than us a year is interfering with our motivation and negatively impacting the business"?

It depends, is she sometimes also flexible with her days off if it helped the business or the other workers have a day off if too many are off etc

A lot of people have this mentality!
My mum found out her part time colleague hadn’t been taking her bank holidays as annual leave - she had just been having them off as extra for years and no one had picked up that these should have been taken as AL. I asked my mum if she would complain, she said no because it wouldn’t get her more annual leave, just get her colleague less. She just saw it as her colleagues luck rather than her own misfortune.

It sounds to me like your colleagues are all a bit stupid.

Sounds like a workplace full of nasty busybodies, your boss of fine with it, no idea why you are making a big thing of it.

That.

Exactly.

One place I worked took the line that if your working pattern, in my case 24 hours a week Tuesday to Thursday, meant you didn't work on a Bank Holiday then tough luck. Contract said leave was 25 days A colleague doing the same hours but Monday, Wednesday and Friday got at least 5 days more paid leave then I did.

Challenged it on grounds it was unlawful and discriminatory and Bank Holidays were added to annual leave as hours proportionate to 24/37.

P/T colleagues working Monday or Friday may have lost out but the organisation was 100% flexible if they chose to do a different day on BH weeks and take the hours another day.

Can you explain how she gets 'extra' leave?

As an aside part timers and compressed hours, ie full time over four days, can be an administrative nightmare.

Why don't you get bank holidays off

👏😂

If she wasn’t working there at all would this change things or would you all still have to use your A/L?

I agree. I can’t imagine being the slightest bit bothered with this.