are bank holidays counted as part of annual holiday during maternity leave?

[Monkeybrain10]

I'm in discussion with my employer about maternity leave and they say i have to take all my annual leave for 2014 before going on maternity in June or lose it. I get 20 days per year annual leave plus bank holidays...3 of which Will be when i'm off on maternity leave. When i asked if i get those as days off too i was told no..not unless i work them! That doesn't make sense to me as usually u get paid for not working a bank holiday so surely it should just be bolted on to annual leave owed shouldn't it?
Can u tell me what normally happens? It's only 3 days but that's still 3 days pay i could do with!

im the same. I was told i wouldnt get bank hol pay and wouldn't get days in lieu either :(

www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/before-the-equality-act/guidance-for-employers-pre-october-10/guidance-on-managing-new-and-expectant-parents/managing-pregnant-women/maternity-leave-and-pay/

Link above may help. on my phone so cant hyperlink it.
I work in HR and its standard that you accrue annual leave and public holidays whilst on mat leave because you can't take two types of leave at the same time. However if you have leave left to take for your current.leave year over the amount your employer allows you to roll over, then you should probably take it before mat leave or ask for payment in lieu.
By no means am I a legal expert and I work for the government so our policies are super family friendly and may not apply elsewhere but I suggest you check gov.uk and acas websites for accurate info and advice.
good luck!!

My bank holidays are included as part of my annual leave entitlement because we work bank holidays. Because of this my employer must give me my basic entitlement plus bank hols. Ive been asked to take any ecrued holidays before I break up, the remaining 29 days will be taken at the end of my maternity.

Hope this helps

I think it depends on your work place, all mine are included and I can either take them as paid leave or add them onto the end of my mat leave. I would def check your company's mat policy as it should say what happens with accrued leave when on mat. Seems pretty harsh if they won't give u public holidays if they make up part of ur work package normally.

Ps not sure if u have checked with hr or ur line manager but I often found my line manager didn't have a clue. He would say one thing then I would check hr who would give me the correct information! So def make sure u are talking to the correct person about it all so u get all u are entitled too

You keep all your contractual leave including bank holidays. You have to be allowed to take it all before or after mat leave and not be paid in lieu.

My employer (large public body) tried to stop me having my bank holidays added but had to rewrite their maternity policy when I showed them the legislation.

I work for a small company so no hr dept, just someone who deals with hr stuff as part of her job. She says none of the other ladies who have taken maternity recently have had bank hols included but to me it is illogical as we get annual leave and paid bank holidays...therefore if i worked a bank holiday i would get paid and get a lieu day for it normally...so it's essentially the same as an annual leave day in my eyes! Thanks for the advice :-)

My company gives the bare legal minimum for everything, and I get either paid or days in lieu for bank hols. I also don't have to take my hol before I leave, I can be paid for it instead. I'd question whether your HR woman knows what she's talking about! Check the government website and send her a link...

How long are you planning on taking off for mat leave?

I work for the nhs so accru all my AL and bank holidays whilst on mat leave. I am pretty sure they cant insist on you you taking your AL before your MAT leave - if for some reason you ended up not going back to work you might have to pay some of it back so be wary!
Also if you were for some reason sick from now until your MAT leave started you would still accru your AL for after your Mat leave.

We have to use up all our AL before the end of the financial year so I am planning on taking 8 months leave then 7 weeks AL(inc BHs) to take me up to the end of March 2015.

I would ask her for a policy in writting stating exactly what you are entitled to. She can't just make it up based on what the company has got away with before. Ask where they get their legal advice from too.

I don't know how much this will help but I'm currently 2 weeks away from starting my maternity leave. I get 20 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays. I took 5 days off in October and 5 days off on February leaving me 10 plus 5 days worth of bank holidays (our holidays work from September-September) and I was told I was entitled to them all (as have to take them before mat leave). I don't know it's that's the case in all company's or just mine but I was definitely entitled to them.

It might be worth posting this in the employment section?

But I would think that if you are entitled to be paid for these bank holidays if you weren't on maternity leave, then you should when you are on maternity leave. Doesn't make sense otherwise.

Thanks everyone!