Bank Holidays and Holiday Entitlement

[Leah4]

Hi, I hope someone can give their opinion on this before I speak to my manager tomorrow morning! I have 8 days of annual leave to take before the end of the year. My manager will allow me to carry over some of my leave. I work 3 days a week, Tuesday to Thursdays, and my bank holiday entitlement of 5 days has been added on to my leave.
I have booked the 20th to the 29th of December as holiday, and my manager has said this will be 4 days leave, whereby I have to use one day of my leave on Tuesday 27th December, although it is a bank holiday. The office is closed on 28th to 30th. Is this correct? I have not taken any other bank holidays as annual leave. My colleague who also works part time (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays) and does not have to take the 27th from her annual leave entitlement. She will also be off during the same period. The extra day will make a difference next year, in terms of my holiday plans.
Any help regarding this would be much appreciated! Thanks

legally, she's correct. you had your bank hol entitlement added to your leave, so can't get free bank hols off as well. companies can tell their employees when to take their holiday.

as to whether or not she's interpreted your company's policy correctly I don't know.

If your employer is like mine, they work out your annual leave and bank holiday entitlement pro-rata - ie as I work 3 days a week I am entitled to 3 out of every five bank holidays (and yes, this means I can have so many days and so many hours - they are SOOO careful not to give me more than I am ENTITLED to). I then have to use this accumulated annual leave and bank holiday 'leave' to book off all bank holidays that fall on days when I am contracted to work.

Not clear at all why discrepancy with your colleague...

My employer is the same. I have annual holiday entitlement calculated in hours, and then a certain number of hours for the Bank Holidays (pro rated) added on. It is a bit of a nightmare though as I work Monday's which is when most of the Bank Holidays are!

bank hols are not holiday

mum used to be cab

what if your office is closed bank holidays?

You can hardly work them?

We have a couple of people who either havn't accrued enough holiday to cover the Christmas bank holidays, or havn't saved them from their entitlement and they are having the days off but just not getting paid for them.
(They were also given the choice of using up some of next years leave instead.)

if you have never had to take bank hols as leave before then I think you have a good argument that it is the company's custom and practice not to make you take annual leave. If as you say you are being treated less favourably then the other colleague then I think this would further strengthen your case. Also as a P/T worker you are entitled not to be treated less favourably than F/T workers. If F/T workers do not have to take it as annual leave, this is something to also bear in mind and you should be treated likewise. HTH

If you only work Tuesday to Thursday, then it is very rare to get a Bank Holiday on a day you usually work - that is why 5 days is added to your annual leave. Nearly all Bank Holidays are on Monday or Friday. I don't agree with teabag, I think the company is being fair.

Sounds right to me - I work 3 days a week and bank holidays are calculated, pro-rata 'd, and added back.

Seems to have been calculatred correctly.

the corect legal point re: bank hols is that even if you don't usually work a Monday you should get an extra day (they seem to have done this by adding days to your leave?). There are part time workers regulations that cover this. It can be indirect sex discrimination not to do so, as in general most part time workers are female and are therefore worse off in comparison to males. Therfore if you don't work a Monday, you should get an additional day to compensate the fact that F/T workers get a bank hol (IFSWIM)

I need some advice on bank hols - so sorry to re-open this discussion and sorry for it's length!

I have 16 days holiday per year (this is my pro rata for 3 days working Mon, Tue, Wed). If my contract states "Your holiday entitlement will be 16 days per year AND any bank holidays which fall on a day when you are contracted to work" (which is effectively another 7 days for 2006) - can my employer now change this contract (by an email to all part timers in the company without any consultation) to: adding your standard holiday (before pro rata) to the standard bank holiday entitlement (in my case 26 + 8) then multiply this by hours actually worked (22.5) over normal working week (37) - then DEDUCT the number of bank holidays that fall on your normal days (in my case 7).
So now I am left with 14 days leave (incl bank hols!!) rather than 16 days + bank hols.
Surely they can't do this (or certainly not in this way). CAN THEY??????

mine have just done this too.

I wonder if we work for the same co!

I didn't think to question it as it seems fairer tbh.

CountessDracula - where do you work - just put city / town and industry - I'll know if it's the same Co!

Dept for Trade and Industry website might be helpful - the are responsible for employment law. Don't have URL but Google should. Think there are two points - what your legal entitlements are with regard to bank hols and whether empoyers can change terms and conditions unilaterally with no consultation. Have they asked you to sign a new contract?

HTH

No there is no requirement to sign a new contract - just one email saying basically this is going to happen!

I work in the City in Software

CountessDracula - not the same company then - Leeds and Utility industry!

Employers cannot change contracts without your consent, whether they go through a "consultation" process or not. You have entered into a binding contract and, if they seek to change it unilaterally, they are in breach and can be sued for compensation. Of course, in practice, this isn't so easy as most people want to keep their jobs and won't therefore consider taking their employer to an employment tribunal.

However, you can object very strenuously about the enforced change and start quoting employment law. Might make them think twice.

Afraid not, Freckle. My company changed everybody's employment contract last year. And we are talking thousands of UK Employees. There was a very long and heated consultation period. They issued new contracts (with amended Ts and Cs) and evry employee had the option of signing the new contract or taking a hike. One of things they did was change our workweek from 37.5 hours to 40 hours without an increase in salary... but then a sudden increase was issued in July so I think they were going to be in trouble for that one. Anyway, I have learned first hand that employers can change the terms and force them upon the entire staff.