Accruing bank holidays during maternity leave - HR/legal question

[rafa]

Could someone with a perhaps a legal or HR background give me some advice please?

I am trying to negotiate the accrual of bank holidays with my firm whilst on maternity leave.
Re holiday entitlement my contract says I am "entitled to 25 days holiday exclusive of UK public holidays."

Is the implication of this that I am entitled to UK public holidays as part of my ordinary contract?
Maternity policy states "you will continue to receive any benefits in kind during your OML that you would have received had you not been absent." So can I argue that as bank holidays are a benefit I usually receive I should continue to accrue them?

Any advice really appreciated

Are they saying you won't get them or is this just a what if scenario?

I'm neither a lawyer nor in HR but I can tell you that we don't accrue bank holidays during maternity leave. I do shift work and bank holidays are a normal working day for us, so on top of our annual leave we also get extra 8 days leave added. However we do not accrue those extra 8 days during mat leave. I thought that was pretty standard.

I'm a civil servant and I didn't accrue bank holidays when on maternity leave just regular annual leave............

this is a what if scenario, I have not been challenged yet but will be. My understanding is that it is a grey area and some firms add them on to your maternity leave as they are considered a benefit that you would have received had you not been absent but others dont. I am looking for something abit more concrete though.

thanks for the replies so far.

Does your contract not have a specific section dedicated to benefits paid out during mat leave? We have a whole part of our intranet dedicated to mat leave and it makes it very clear what you get and what you don't.

Rafa - there is nothing more concrete than that I'm afraid. The letter of law woudl suggest that you are entitled to them on top, but I reckon only about 5% of employers do so. There won't be certainty until someone sues...

there is a section of the contract that deals with what you are entitled to ie pension contributions, life insurance, use of mob phone etc but nothing about what you are not entitled to.

I do accrue bank holidays after a certain time but am not sure if my employee is just a bit generous?

I have been told that any bank holidays which fall after the first 18 weeks of my company maternity pay will be given to me, 18 weeks is when I go down to statutory pay.

It might be worth looking into when your SMP starts and if there are any legal provisions RE bank-holiday once your pay goes down to SMP.

there is some info here

"You build up all your entitlements to paid holiday through all of your Statutory Maternity Leave. This is even if your employment contract says you are entitled to more than the statutory minimum."

If they're being explicit about what they do offer then I'd assume you don't get bank holidays accrued during mat leave. If you did then it would be explicitly outlined alongside the pension contributions, life insurance etc etc.