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Original poster

Working part time and pro rata bank holidays

30 replies

Cupcakeaddict · 10/08/2011 17:44

I'm working Tuesday to Friday and on top of my holiday entitlement I get bank holidays. As I am part time, I get pro rated holidays and BH. To make it fair to those who have a different day off, everyone gets an entitlement for BH but we need to book them as holiday. So far, so good :)

Now what I don't understand is that as my BH entitlement is pro rated I will only get 4/5 of the 8 or so BH we have each year. If I need to book them off (which I will have to as we are shut on BHs) I will need to "eat" into my normal holiday entitlement to make up the rest of the bank holidays for which I don't get paid. I know that employers can force you to do this as they can dictate when I take holidays so technically they can make me do this, but surely it is discriminatory against part timers because full timers aren't forced to take their holidays at set times? This will mean I can't take as much time off as FT people? Or do I just take 4/5 of a day on a BH? It seems really silly, especially as I don't work Mondays!!!

OP posts:

countydurhamlass · 10/08/2011 18:18

what is your holiday entitlement? (minus bank holidays)

izzybizzybuzzybees · 10/08/2011 18:24

I'm the same. I work a half post so get half bank hols. My allowance this year is for 4.5 bank hold as full timers get 9. But there are 7 bh when I'm due to work. If I don't work them my 4.5 bh allowance gets taken off plus 2.5 days of my actual leave. Seems unfair cos a full timer would get all 9 off and not use any real holidays. Is that fair?? Are u similar?

flowery · 10/08/2011 19:37

Are full timers not required to take bank holidays off then? How are you being discriminated against?

I could understand your point if your worked Mondays, as in that case (as with izzybizzy the chances are more bank holidays fall on your working days than you are entitled to. Although legally it's fine.

But if you work Tuesdays to Fridays surely you are entitled to more bank holidays than you would ever need to take as you don't need to book any of the Monday holidays off.

edoli · 10/08/2011 19:43

agree with flowery.

I work Tuesday- Thursday and get a pro-rated BH allowance. I don't need to book the BH's off as I am not required to work, I suspect you are the same cupcakeaddict.

So, as you don't need to book the BH Mondays off, you won't be eating into your holiday allowance and it fact you'll have extra days. Bear in mind when Christmas and New Year fall though as some years you need to use some of your BH allowance to cover these days, if they fall on days you normally work.

AMumInScotland · 10/08/2011 19:43

If you don't work on Mondays, then you don't have to book them off as leave. So all the 4/5 of mondays that you get as part of te leave allowance during the year will only have to be used for a few non-Monday BHs (Good Friday, Christmas, New Year). You'll be up on the deal!

EssentialFattyAcid · 10/08/2011 19:48

You will get pro rata bank holidays so it is the same treatment as for FT employees - neither better nor worse. however as you don't work on Mondays which is when most bank holidays fall you actually have more choice of when to take your holiday entitlement than a FT employee so you are fortunate.

Original poster

Cupcakeaddict · 10/08/2011 20:29

My holiday entitlement is 25 days without BH. The thing is Flowery, my contract specifies that I must book a day off on BH even though I don't work Mondays. The way HR have explained it to me is that to make it fair, all PT get bank holiday entitlement and we all have to book a day off on BH (whether we normally work that day or not).

OP posts:

edoli · 10/08/2011 20:38

I would challenge that approach with your HR team. (Bear in mind I am not an employment lawyer though!)

Holidays and BHs are paid time off and you are not paid to work on a Monday.

Do you mean 25 days including BH, or are BH on top? If it's inclusive that's pretty low, and to make you use BH allowance on days you don't work doesn't sound right.

AMumInScotland · 10/08/2011 20:39

That's not usual - do the sums and show them why that puts you at a disadvantage over fulltime workers. Part-timers are not meant to nd up with less.

RedHotPokers · 10/08/2011 20:42

Same system in my work.
Basically came about as a result of people who work (for example) Tuesday - Thursday effectively never getting the benefit of BHs, whilst people who work Mondays and Tuesdays getting lots. There is never going to be a perfect solution to this - what do you suggest?

ChasingSquirrels · 10/08/2011 20:47

I don't understand that at all - how can you book off a day that you don't work anyway? Do you therefore get paid for 5 days that week?
If I am reading you correctly you just "lose" the BH day plus 1/5 day normal holiday for each BH that you don't work?
That is crazy.

countydurhamlass · 10/08/2011 20:51

legally full time you should get a minimum of 28 days including bank holidays
on 4 days that is reduced to 22.4 including bank holidays.

you get 25 days without bank holidays so i am presuming full timers get 31 days? therefore they are giving you more than the legal minimum.

i work monday to friday but because i get more than the legal minimum i do not argue when i lose out on Good Friday because I get 16 days, plus the other 7 bank holidays, plus 3 days at Christmas which is actually 26 days, and all the full timers get 20 plus 8 plus 3 (31 in total) so i am in fact better off than the full timers.

I would be arguing that you should not have to take a day's holiday for a day you don't work. if you have to take a day's holiday then you should be getting paid overtime for that day as in effect you are doing a day's overtime!

Original poster

Cupcakeaddict · 10/08/2011 20:52

No Edoli, I get 25 pro rata and BH pro rata on top.

I thought it would seem fairer if I booked the BH I get paid for off and for the other ones, I just won't get paid, as they are just days I don't normally work? I just don't want to use up holidays on days I don't work! It would probably be just a day or two but still!

OP posts:

suzikettles · 10/08/2011 20:53

Eh? That makes no sense at all.

You can't take a day's leave on a Monday if you don't work a Monday. Are you sure you've understood correctly?

I'm in the same boat, although I work Mon-Wed so use up my BH entitlement on the actual Mondays. Some years though I don't need to use the 4 Christmas/NY BHs (I'm in Scotland) as they don't fall on my days and get to take some extra days another time.

They way it should work you'll actually be in some ways better off than full time employees, some years, as you'll be more flexible about when you can take your prorata'd days.

The way you describe is crazy though.

RedHotPokers · 10/08/2011 20:59

OP - surely you benefit fromthe scheme.
If it wasn't for the scheme you would lose out on the BH 'benefit' every time the BH fell on a monday (which is obviously the majority.

As it is, surely you will just receive more leave. So if you had 20 days holiday f/t, you worked 4 days per week (Tues - fri), you would get 16 days leave. PLUS you would get 4/5ths of the BH leave. So if there were 10 BH, you would get 8 days. If 2 of the BHs fell on a Friday and 8 on a Monday, you would be 6 days better off than if the scheme didn't exist IYSWIM.

LoveBeingAtHomeOnMyOwn · 10/08/2011 21:03

I worked mon- wed so half time and got half bank hold, this was even though I would work far more than that. The person who works the other half of my job we'd-fri gets the same bank hol allowance even though the number if bank hols her working hours covers is far fewer.

I think either you or the person explaining has got mixed.

Macey78 · 10/08/2011 21:33

I am watching this thread very closely as I am in a similar situation and find this whole thing really confusing. Was actually post a thread on this myself but saw this. OP I hope you do not mind me asking on your thread, I work Wed, thu, Fri I enquired with HR today about my bank holiday entitlement pro rata, they did not seem to know what I was talking about, how can I make it really clear what I am asking for. Incidentally I am working 25.5 hours and if I were full time would have had 31 days A/L not sure what it is on my current hours.

Original poster

Cupcakeaddict · 10/08/2011 22:26

Redhotpoker, yes, I do benefit in terms of pay (as I will get paid for some days I don't normally work) but I lose out in terms of actual days to take off.
I haven't got my contract at hand but the wording seemed clear. Will post it tomorrow.

OP posts:

magso · 11/08/2011 09:53

I used to work on a Monday (1/5 prorata) and had to use my holiday entitlement to cover most of the BH or work a day in liew. My BH allowance was added to my holiday allowance so I knew how much was needed to cover the BH.

HoneyPablo · 11/08/2011 10:05

I have just dropped a Monday and now work Tuesday to Friday. My holiday entitlement was 25 days plus bank holidays working full time. I thought I would lose my bank holidays but I am still entitled to them- I just take them on different days. Which works out well for me. My holiday entitlement is now 20 days plus the days for bank holidays which I can use whenever.

cat64 · 11/08/2011 10:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

inmysparetime · 12/08/2011 13:36

I work PT Monday's and Fridays, so I got caught on every single bank holiday, reducing my 8 days leave to 4. My workplace was closed for a week which we all had to take as holiday, so I actually only got 2 days leave all year. I do a lot of extra days in term time, and it's really annoying that they don't let me accrue any more leave.

Ellypoo · 12/08/2011 13:57

Inmysparetime - you should accrue holidays for the additional days that you work, to ensure that your annual leave entitlement is over the statutory minimum.
Legally, you are entitled to 5.6 weeks (pro-rata) including bank holidays - so they may need to annualise the days that you work to calculate your correct leave entitlement.
If you work 2 days/week then your entitlement should be (5.6 x 2) 11.2 days (including bank holidays), so it sounds like you aren't being given enough paid holidays. I would look into this further.

ginmakesitallok · 12/08/2011 15:25

Agree that someone somewhere has misunderstood the rules OP - you only need to book off the bank holidays you would otherwise have been working. I work pt and work Mondays - but luckily my workplace is prety flexible and if I don't want to take it as annual leave I'm allowed to work another day instead and keep my leave

StealthPolarBear · 12/08/2011 15:28

the way I understand is everyone whether FT or PT is required to book 8 days off on the set bank holidays, but the OP doesn't get a full 8 days - she gets pro rataed days.

Can you change yourworking pattern to work Mondays? :o

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