bank holidays & maternity leave

[Vap0]

Can anyone point me in the right direction over how to approach my employer about thus?

I have spoken to lots of friends who have said they accrued bank holidays during maternity leave, my employer is saying that I won't.

My employer has just informed me that "Unfortunately we have never included bank holidays when calculating maternity annual leave accrual"

I have checked my contract and it says

"Holiday Entitlement

The holiday year runs from 1st January to 31st December. Employees joining the company accrue paid holiday entitlement at the rate of [2.08] days per completed month.

Your annual (full time) holiday entitlement is 25 days plus public holidays. Unused holiday cannot be carried over from one year to the next."

It sounds to me like they are wrong. I work for a large American company with a relatively small uk office (150 employees in uk). There is no Union and just 1 person in HR.

Any advice greatly received

Sorry Vap, no advice but this sounds very similar to my company so will be interested to see if anyone has any advice.

I think you are right. Could you ask ACAS? Or maternity action? Or CRB?

Sorry, I meant CAB!!

Interesting I hadn't considered that. During my mat leave I accrued holiday (vacation) not bank holidays, I also have 25 days plus bank holidays.

My DF has bank holidays within his holiday allowance as they work bank holidays as if they are not there. So in that circumstance I would imagine you would accrue bank holidays as well not an adjusted amount.

Will be interesting to know what ACAS or something like that say.

Not sure I understand what you mean, do you mean you should get to add them onto the end of your maternity leave as well as your annual leave? I am on maternity leave at the moment and hadn't considered that this might happen so watching with interest!

I discovered that along with annual leave I accrued the bank holidays and also I had a case for carrying over leave if I was not physically able to take it ... (My employer is a large uk based company so very clear cut and a decent HR dept)

I always had bank holidays added on top of annual leave accrue to add on to end of mat leave

I accrue annual leave (24 days a year), 8 bank holidays and 6 closure days (I work for a University which closes for some extra days over Xmas and Easter. So taking 12 months off means I go back with 38 days of leave accrued which I then need to arrange how to take it.

I'm not sure if its law that you also accrue bank holidays or whether its something that depends on your employer. I would think you should accrue them as they are public holidays and days you would have had off of you were at work (I assume).

Bank holidays should most definitely be added onto your leave in addition to your accrued holiday. You are entitled to your maternity leave period + accrued holiday + accrued bank/public holidays. Cannot understand how so many HR departments are so clueless about maternity leave policy.

Yup you also accrue bank holidays. I would call ACAS though to back this up when approaching your employer.

You're entitled to 28 days statutory annual leave per year, per this website:

www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement

If they don't allow you bank holidays, you'll only be getting 25, and they are therefore in the wrong.

This also might help:

www.maternityaction.org.uk/advice-2/mums-dads-scenarios/pregnant/discrimination-during-maternity-leave-and-on-return-to-work/

www.workingmums.co.uk/advice-and-support/maternity-leave-and-bank-holidays/

Check this link

I got paid for all the bank holidays through my mat leave. Was a nice bit extra through the year !

It didn't happen on my first mat leave tho - with the same company. I think some companies don't understand the legal position.

How would you broach this subject with your employer?

I don't want to anger them.

Will speak with CAB when work calms down a little in a couple of weeks.

The only reason it came to light was that I was planning when I intend to leave (they have been pushing me for a date) and added the 3 remaining bank holidays for the year onto the holidays I have remaining and will accrue for the remainder of the year.

So in answer to one of the questions, I was expecting for the 3 bh this year to be used at the start of mat leave and the 8 bh next year would be added as annual leave when I return to work.

It's not like my employers are particularly generous with maternity leave. I will only be on the standard rate dictated but the government (or whoever).

If it were me, I would play the faux innocent, send them the gov.uk link and say 'oh sorry, I'm a bit confused, I understood that I had a statutory right to 28 days annual leave, and if I don't accrue bank holidays then I'll only be getting 25, can you confirm, as I believe this would mean that I was getting less than my entitlement due to being on maternity leave'? Any HR person, even an inexperienced one, would be seeing red flags at any implication that they could be opening themselves up to an accusation of discrimination, and would go off and do some more research. And if they don't, well, you've got a cut and dried statement that confirms maternity discrimination, which you could take to ACAS to sort relatively easily, I would imagine.

How would you broach this subject with your employer?

I don't want to anger them.

Will speak with CAB when work calms down a little in a couple of weeks.

The only reason it came to light was that I was planning when I intend to leave (they have been pushing me for a date) and added the 3 remaining bank holidays for the year onto the holidays I have remaining and will accrue for the remainder of the year.

So in answer to one of the questions, I was expecting for the 3 bh this year to be used at the start of mat leave and the 8 bh next year would be added as annual leave when I return to work.

It's not like my employers are particularly generous with maternity leave. I will only be on the standard rate dictated but the government (or whoever).

Hope HR sorts it out. The union by the way isn't something "at" your work, it's something you join - unison or whatever suits your job type. You could be the only one in the office who us in a union, you would still get their support.

I would just email them and ask them why they are excluding the bank holidays that you are legally entitled to accrue. You can call ACAS and ask them to mediate with your employer on your behalf. If they still decline, raise a grievance and ultimately you can go down an employment tribunal avenue (potentially expensive for both of you).

This is true Therealy but some unions won't help with a preexisting complaint or situation (you usually need to be a member for four weeks first of all) and if the employer doesn't accept the union, they will be unable to attend meetings with you - although they can still provide support before and after the meetings.

I would be matter of fact about it, ie as you understand the law, you are entitled to accrue bank holidays, please confirm etc. But yes, confirm with Acas so you can tell your work you've done that if need be.

Why don't you email them the link I sent above and just ask them to clarify their position

The bank holidays get added at the end, you cant take some this year and some next year.

You take your maternity leave first, then unpaid mat leave, then bank holidays, then annual leave, in that order.

I am Ireland though but I think its the same system.

I work for the public sector and we definitely accrue bank holidays whilst on annual leave. I'll be taking 9 months maternity leave, then my annual leave. I'll need to get my bank holidays manually added to my annual leave entitlement, it won't be calculated automatically.

I took my remaining holidays and the bank holidays that were left for the rest of the year at the start of my time off (finished end of May), so I think it must be different systems 3lucky. I'm in Scotland, but my company wasn't exactly great at being generous so I don't think they'd have done that if they didn't have to. Might also have to do with my mat leave straddling 2 years.

I'll be emailing my hr department about this too - thanks for the heads up. I wonder if I can claim my bank holidays from my last lot of maternity leave three years ago

I've been told that bank holidays are accrued. In fact I am taking a few bank holidays days that haven't come round yet as part of my leave before maternity leave starts. I don't think my employer is unusual, after all they don't offer any extra maternity pay. I do get 30 days annual leave though so they are generous in that respect.