Talk to me about being part time and bank holidays please

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

Because I'm confused.

I'm not sure how this can be right.

So I work part time, 50%, and therefore my bank holidays are pro rata too. Fair enough. So I get 4 bank holidays a year. Now, I normally work on Mondays and the office closes. So I use those 4 bank holidays and have to use 4 days from my annual leave allocation to cover the rest of it. Whereas part time colleagues who don't work on Mondays don't need to worry about it, and can use their annual leave allocation as they wish.

Am I not being penalised?

Only in the sense that you have to take the bank holidays but the number of days are the same. You could change your days.

I can swap my days about when there's a public holiday, is that an option for you? Or I can just work the holiday, work are flexible so I'll decide on Monday morning.

I can't change my days.

You are getting exactly the right pro rata amount of paid time off as everyone else, so no you are not being penalised for being part time. You are slightly at a disadvantage in terms of how much holiday you potentially get to choose, because you work Mondays. But short of giving you more holiday than anyone else, there's not a lot your employer could do to make things fairer.

My colleagues get to choose when they take their 12.5 days.

I can only choose when I take 8.5 days.

That's quite a difference.

Thats just luck of the draw. I am PT and work mon and tues. I am entitled to 40% of each bank holiday. I gain 40% of tomorrows day on my clock to do with as I wish but owe 60% of the time I should have worked on monday. It is up to me whether to use annual leave or work additional hours.

if you work 2.5 days per week then you are entitled to 14 days holiday a year. Bank holidays are often included in that entitlement ie. you may not get them over and above this allowance

www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement

Yes that is a difference, but the alternative is giving you more paid time off than anyone else, which isn't going to happen and is much more unfair than the current scenario. You could ask to take bank holidays as unpaid leave if you want to use your holiday at another time?

next time choose different working days!

A full time person is entitled to 8 days off as bank holidays over the year, as you work 50% you are entitled to 4 days. Unfortunately that does not cover the full amount of hours you have to take off so you have to top that up from your holiday hours.
Some employers allow staff in this position to make time up on other days but they do not have to, indeed it is not a legal requirement to pay for bank holidays at all.

At one time employees got a bank holiday off if they worked on that day but this was changed as part-time workers who worked on Mondays were getting more paid time off than those who worked other days

That's helpful, thanks merci.

That's just one of those things.

A full time person cannot choose either.

But a full time person gets bank holidays plus normal annual leave. you don't need to use some of your annual leave to cover your bank holidays.

Oh well.

I don't expect more holiday but I do expect holiday to be holiday, rather than obligatory days off.

I am in exactly the same situation with Monday being on of my usual working days.

If you think about it, only 4 of the BH days are Mondays every year. The others are Friday or moveable. Some years you might be down but it's something to consider when selecting your days.

You are getting the same amount of days off as them. Its just they can choose some of those days. Those that don't work fridays will get the same 'perk' and depending on where Christmas falls it will be the same then.

That's a better way of looking at it, had forgotten that! Thanks HNC.

You are looking at it the wrong way. Those days you get for bank holidays are not standard holiday, they are national bank holidays, decided by the government. Your colleagues don't get any days off from their usual working week for national holidays so are given the equivalent in lieu.

I guess the only way to make it fair for you would be to demand they take their bank holiday lieu days off on the closest working day to the bank holiday, which seems a bit ridiculous to me.

This year only 4 of the bank holidays fall on a Monday. The others are Thursdays and Fridays. So you won't always have to take the 8 off as holiday.

I totally don't get it, I am part time, 25 hrs. I normally work 9 to 7 on a Monday and 9 to 2 on Friday so am just getting them off this year. Plus I still have 125 book able holiday hours

Why?

"I do expect holiday to be holiday, rather than obligatory days off."

But to do that you'd either have to expect your employer to open up on a bank holiday so you can come into work, or allow you unpaid leave, or give you more paid leave than anyone else.

you are right, only 4 Monday bank holidays in 2014, there are 5 Monday bank holidays in 2015

QOD you are entitled to 140 hours holiday but the employer can either make you use that entitlement to take bank holidays off or they can add bank holidays onto your standard entitlement

well, its how i chose my working days

pays to think ahead

first off you need to assess your employer
quite a few dont notice
with them you choose to work mon and fri, thus getting extra days off
if they are observant employers, then work tues, weds or thurs
that is, if this kind of thing bothers you

Yeah but ... Everyone gets 5 weeks paid which is 25x5 = 125

Soo I still don't get it!