SMP & Bank holiday help please

[Floopy21]

Hi, I would really appreciate some advice, I have just had this comment from my employer:

"She will not accrue any Bank Holidays as they are included in the SMP Payment."

Please could someone advise me if this is true? I can't seem to find the concrete answer out online.

Many thanks for your help.

SMP and bank holidays is a big fat mess of contradicting opinions with little clear guidance from the government. There are people who says that it depends on how your contract is worded. It also makes a difference how many days holiday you get, if you are below the legal minimum without bank holidays.

There was a case (European Court of Justice (ECJ) decision in Gomez (see LGE Advisory Bulletin 483)) that involved a woman being on maternity leave during a fixed date factory shutdown. The court ruled that she had the right to take those days holiday after she returned to work. In theory the same rules could apply to bank holidays but I don't know if anyeone has tested it.

Most employers allow you to accrue bank holidays because of the lack of clarity. I suggest you print off the Gomez ruling and the page from Directgov about accrusing all entitlements to paid holiday and take them to your HR department.