Christmas not being a bank holiday and work

[Bster]

Hello,

My husband has a very irregular shift pattern and usually gets his rota in the last week of the month for the next month. He has annualised hours and can be asked to work any day (a real pain in the neck, but that?s not what this post is about!). The saving grace in his contract is that he gets 2 weekends off a month and gets the 8 public holidays as well as 21 days leave. He sometimes gets rotered in to work bank holidays in the year (for which he takes a day in lieu),but has never worked Christmas.

We?re a bit confused this year, with Christmas being on a Saturday and the bank holidays being on the Monday and Tuesday. Is he still entitled to Christmas day off? Or can they force him to work it. Also (and I hope it won?t come to this), what would happen if he refused ? I understand if it was a normal working day they could take disciplinary procedure against him, but would it warrant a warning, or would it be more or less serious that this? We?re just trying to figure out the best way to approach this, as I don?t want him to spend Christmas by himself (I?m committed to being at my parents?, for various reasons and it?s where he would be too if he doesn?t have to work). Also, he works the night shift (10pm-8am), so which shift is actually classed as the public holiday, the one beginning on the holiday, or the one ending?

Thanks,
B

It depends a lot on what he does.

Factory - will probably be closed for Christmas

Driving a bus/train - there won't be any buses on Christmas

Nurse - needs doing full-time so no reason why he should get it off (but might get extra pay)

You know that we can't answer your question for you - why doesn't he ask his employers? It's not unreasonable to want to be able to plan Christmas at the end of October.

What does he do?
If christmas needs covering that rota should be out now so that staff can be organising their lives/sorting out any possible swaps etc.

Oooh thank you, very quick responses!

He works as a night watchman and the place doesn?t close down over Christmas. We know that they can?t force him to work bank holidays (as this is contractual), it?s just confusing as the bank holiday is the Monday instead, but that seems to work well for week day workers, but not so much for those that work weekends.

He could ask the employers, but they?re not that great on employment law, so we prefer to find out what his the legal position is before going to them! If Christmas day isn?t classed as a bank holiday, then they can ask him to work, but if it is, I assume they can?t, so he?d rather know where he stands before he goes to them (as they will probably just tell him he has to work it without checking the legal position).

I am in an industry where there has to be provision for cover on Christmas Day. When Christmas day falls on a weekend we use our regular weekend rota to cover this and then bank holiday rota to cover the week day holidays.
Speaking to other people who are industries who work on Christmas Day we all try to spread the christmas burden so that everyone has a turn, but no one person gets it alot.
We have already published our christmas rota so that everyone can plan. So it could be worth asking.

It may be worth asking for it as holiday if he's told he may have to work on it.

Well it sounds as if someone will have to work it, so hopefully they will see if anyone will volunteer to take it on (for extra pay), otherwise it will have to be whoever would be regularly scheduled to work that Saturday night.

The thing is, no-one is scheduled to work Saturdays. Sometimes my DH does them, sometimes someone else. He probably does 2 per month, but there is absolutely no way of predicting which ones (if any) until the rota comes through! Some colleagues don?t have the bank holidays in their contract, but others get paid a lot more than him, so it?s swings and roundabouts really. I?m just really trying to find out if the Monday being a bank holiday in lieu only applies to those businesses that don?t open at the weekend, or even ones that do and if the 'public holidays' clause in his contract includes Christmas day, even if it's on a weekend.

at the idea of them paying extra - that'll be the day!! (Although you're right, they definitely should...)

I do know that in a number of hospitals, if you are working Christmas day this year as a junior doctor, its counted as a normal weekend day and not anything else.

No it is not classed as a bank holiday in this case and legally he could be rota'd to work it. There is no legal right to be paid extra either. Though at the very least most employers would offer extra pay or make sure the pain was spread out fairly over the years.

In a previous job I knew a security guard who was always required to work Xmas day if it fell on one of his normal working days, no extra pay or anything. Nothing he could do about it.

The bank holiday is the Monday, so he could be rota'd in. But I'm confused, you say contractually he can't be asked to work on a bank holiday but also say that he does sometimes work bank holidays. Is that through choice then?

this sounds horrible but are you religous? if not why shouldn't he work? christmas day is a religous holiday

His contract says that he has bank holidays off (as part of his 29 days).However, sometimes he works them through choice, but he has never worked Christmas day in 5 years. Seems like we will just have to put up with it if he gets rota?d in ? it seems ridiculous that Christmas isn?t a public holiday for those that work weekends!! Just have to keep our fingers crossed that his boss, who seems to know very little about employment law, doesn?t realise that Christmas isn?t a bank holiday this year! At least it seems he?s entitled to 5 out of 7 Christmases off, so it?s not too bad I suppose.

Thanks, B