Bank Holiday Entitlement

[Feathers1981]

When I return to work following my maternity leave my contract will still be full time, but I will work full time hours over 4 days instead of 5, I will have Fridays off. Normally we only work 5.5 hours on a Friday anyway as we have an early finish. We still work 37.5 hours but have longer days Mon-Thursday and finish at 2.30 on Friday.

I plan to end my maternity leave on xmas eve (a Thursday) so that I get paid for the bank holidays over xmas. I am taking holiday until mid January anyway. This year xmas day and new years day are Fridays. My understanding is that I receive an additional 5.5 hours holiday for each, is that correct? I.e. even though I I don’t normally work Friday anyway I am still entitled to bank holiday ‘allowance’ of the hours I would normally work on Friday (being 5.5).

How many hours will you do each week? Still 37.5?

Your holiday entitlement for a 37.5 hour week would be 210 hours. The 210 hours can include bank holidays depending on what your contract says (I.e. Some give them on top of the entitlement, some include bank holidays within the statutory entitlement)

You get the same bank holiday hours as a full timer because you work the same number of hours as a full timer.

You don't have to take hours as leave for days you don't work, so you'll accrue the full number of bank holiday hours, but you can use the hours that other staff will have to use to cover Christmas Day and New Years day at another time.

If a bank holiday falls on a day when you wouldn't be working, you aren't entitled to a day off in lieu of a bank holiday, if that's what you mean. That's taking the piss.

That's not the case MrsLeighHalfpenny, and it's also not taking the piss.

The op will be working the same number of hours over a year as staff who work 5 days. Because she works longer days she'll have to use more hours of A/L to cover a single day off than staff who work a standard day - do you think staff who are working 7.5hrs a day are taking the piss because they'll only have to use up 7.5hrs of their leave to take a day off

sleepyhead is right. However many companies don't realise this and short-change their employees out of ignorance or trying to pull a fast one

sleepyhead and dementedpixie are right, in that you ought to get the same total number of hours off, including bank holidays, as someone working 37.5hrs and your leave ought to be calculated in hours not days as 1 day of your leave is equivalent to 1.25 days of other people's leave. When there is a Monday bank holiday you are losing 25% of your working week whereas an ordinary employee would be only losing 20% so dealing in hours makes sure that is fair.

"Because she works longer days she'll have to use more hours of A/L to cover a single day off than staff who work a standard day"

Yes, but she'll also get paid more hours for a bank holiday off than her colleagues will.

OP don't think in terms of "we" normally do x amount of hours. You need to think about how many hours you will be doing. It will be no less favourable, but it will be different.

Your total holiday entitlement will be the same in terms of hours, but in terms of days, it will of course be fewer, as you will get paid more for a day off than your colleagues will.

If you are not contracted to work on a Friday, you won't get paid 5.5 (or any) hours for that day. That's not you losing out, but paid holiday is taking time off that you would otherwise be working, it's not about getting paid for days you don't normally work.

Your employer may work your holiday out in hours, or in days, but either way, they should have made that clear to you in whatever letter/new contract you've had confirming the changes to your terms and conditions.

You can't lose out, but that doesn't mean you'll get paid for bank holidays which will fall on days you wouldn't work anyway.