Bank holidays and lunch breaks

[Leah4]

I am currently negotiating my contract for my job, which has progressed from a temporary to a permanent position.

Due to my DD's nursery I have to work Mons/Tues/Thurs. My contract says that I will be entitled to bank holidays on a pro-rata basis, but I will have to work another day or take a bank holiday from my annual leave, when I have used up my bank holiday entitlement, as I work on Mondays.

I believe this is usual practice, but I still feel that it is unfair. Is there any way I can get around this before I sign my contract? I have to pay my nursery for bank holidays and they are not flexible in my wanting to change days, even occasionally.

Also, I work 6 hours per day and there is no mention of breaks in my contract - what would I be able to have?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Leah - no idea about the bank holiday thing, but re breaks, European and UK law now states that a worker is entitled to a break of not less than 20 minutes every six hours. So if you are working only six hours I think they will probably say no breaks are needed. As they are unpaid anyway, would you really want them? I am trying to find out something similar (see thread below).

Leah4 - I have a similar issue due to working part-time. My employer gives part-timers a total holiday entitlement which includes a pro-rata calculation for bank holidays. This means effectively I take bank holidays out of my annual leave. The reason they are pro-ratad is so that people who don't work mondays don't miss out on all those bank holidays. But effectively if you do work on mondays you sometimes end up having to take time out of annual leave to cover the day off. For me it depends on the calendar year and how many of the bank holidays for that year fall on one of my working days - some years I need to remember to save more of my annual leave to cover the bank holidays.

I talked to an employment lawyer friend about this and she said probably you could argue the case either way. But in the end I came to the conclusion myself that it probably was the fairest solution for all part-timers to get the same entitlement regardless of what days you work. It just has the consequence that for those of us who work Mondays, you have less flexibility in when you can take those days holiday.

Don't know if that makes any sense - it's taken me ages to get my head round it! And still psychologically I get riled when I have to put bank holidays down on my timesheet as coming out of my annual leave!

Can't comment on the breaks business - sorry!

I'm confused! I work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, so miss out on all bank holiday mondays. Does that mean I am entitled to extra days off then?

Northerner - I don't think it's a legal entitlement, but I think it is 'fair' to pro-rata bank holidays.

When I was working pt but not Mondays, I made sure I got pro-rata Bank Hols written into my contract.

Now I'm working pt but including Mondays (different company) and no-one's suggested pro-rata Bank Hols, so I've not mentioned it

I'm the same as you roisin, I work Mondays & no-one has mentioned pro-rata bank holidays so I am keeping my mouth shut....

Yup I think the law on this is that there's choice in the way employers can implement part-timer's bank holiday entitlement. But the way I understood it from my employment lawyer friend is that some guidelines (not legally enforceable) changed a couple of years ago which has lead to lots of employers pro-rata-ing (!) the bank holidays for their part-time employees. Employers are entitled to do this, but they're not obliged to do it. The guidelines, which were drawn up to encourage a fair deal for all part-timers, apparently favour the pro-rata system.

I know it seems a bit unfair if you do work Mondays (and Fridays!) to have to effectively use up some of your annual holiday to cover fixed bank holidays. But despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to think of a fairer system for all part-time employees.

Certainly if I didn't work Mondays I would argue strongly with my employer that I shouldn't be missing out on my bank holiday entitlement.

Interested in this thread as I am due to start an 18and a half hour week in a new job. I have been asked to do wed thurs and fri so I wont work mon and tues. I wonder if I can claim bank holiday mondays off and also the lieu days at christmas. Any advice anyone?
thanks

I work Wed to Thurs and I get bh on a pro-rata basis. it usually works out that they owe me time off, but it depends on which days xmas and new year fall as well. Don't know about breaks sorry

helenhm - personally I think you've got a good case for arguing for bank holidays pro-rata. Why should you miss out just because of the days you work?

But your employer is not obliged to give them to you - so it just depends on their goodwill and their attitude to part-timers. Always worth stressing how little it costs them in the big scheme of things and how much it is worth in terms of staff morale!

Good luck

Thanks for your advice Pidge
Helen

Apologies for not responding sooner - I have been away over the weekend. Thank you for all your responses; very helpful and informative. It does look like I will have to work an alternative day during a bank holiday week, in order to retain my holiday entitlement. I have recently checked with my dd's nursery and Friday's are very quiet - only 5 children in normally.

I am still unsure about breaks, but I have carried on as before and taken 30 minute lunches, like most people in my office.

Best wishes.

I work part-time - Mondays to Thursdays but work Mondays at home and the rest of the week in the office.

I get pro-rata holiday leave - 16 days a year - would get 20 days a year if I were full time.

I get paid for those bank holidays that fall on a Monday.