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Original poster

Can someone explain bank holidays when you work part time?

44 replies

user6767 · 25/07/2021 14:39

I have heard this quite often so I know it's not just my employer. Basically I work part time so my holidays and bank holidays are all pro rata. Holidays fine all makes sense bank holidays I am given 4 or 5 depending on the year, however, because I work every Monday this eats into my holiday allowance. I have had to book off 7 bank holidays this year 3 more than I have been given entitlement for. Them 3 extra days is actually a full weeks holiday for me.

I don't see how this is fair but it seems to be normal from others I have spoken to about it. I have queried it with my HR who just said it's correct. I don't understand could someone explain the reasoning since it seems to be the norm everywhere.

One of my colleagues only works Wednesday to Friday and still gets the 4/5 days entitlement so actually ends up with extra holidays. I think I need to ask to change my days.

OP posts:

Oldtimer2020 · 25/07/2021 14:44

I work part time, with one of my days being a Monday. If there is a bank holiday on the Monday, I don’t work and the day is automatically given to me as holiday, like it would for someone working full time. Having read your post, I’m thinking this might be unusual and I’m quite lucky?!

Ginmakesitallok · 25/07/2021 14:49

When I worked part time I could change my working days for the bank holiday weeks- so take the Monday off, work differently day instead so I didn't have to use my leave allowance. @Oldtimer2020 yes that's unusual.

Seaswallow · 25/07/2021 14:49

I have worked for several different employers PT and they were all different!
Employer one 1- I worked Mondays (jobshare) so when Monday was BH me and my partner shared the rest of the week 2 days each.
employer 2- I got the whole day off and JS partner took a different whole day off in lieu of BH
employer 3- I got the day off and she got nothing
I have never had the BH taken from my holiday allowance.

megletthesecond · 25/07/2021 14:52

I don't work Mondays and get the BH hours back as annual leave.

Watto1 · 25/07/2021 14:53

I work Tuesday-Friday. If a bank holiday falls on a Monday, I usually get the Tuesday off instead. However, as I only work 80% of the time, I’m only entitled to 80% of the bank holidays.

Original poster

user6767 · 25/07/2021 14:55

@Oldtimer2020 I just can't make sense of it but a few other people I know all say they have the same situation as me. We all used to have to book our banks holidays off as holidays but where given an entitlement for it in our holidays. They no longer do this with full time staff just give them the day off but part time still have to book it off.
My employers are a good company with a good reputation so I don't feel like they would have this policy if it was wrong. I just can't get my head around the reason.

OP posts:

LBOCS2 · 25/07/2021 14:55

You will end up with more leave if you have Monday as a standard non-working day.

You're entitled to all holidays pro-rated; so as you said - you lose out in leave if you then have to book back the bank holiday Mondays, particularly depending on how Christmas/NY fall.

NavaniKholinRocks · 25/07/2021 14:57

That sounds pretty standard to me. You have the same amount of time off available, just that you have less flexibility over when to take it. As a PP said, could you switch your working days for BH weeks so you don’t have to book leave if you don’t want to? Failing that, as you say, you could request to change your days to avoid this in future.

mistermagpie · 25/07/2021 14:59

Your situation is the same as my DH's. He works 4 days a week, his non working day is a Tuesday.

I work three days a week with my job working days being Monday and Friday.

With bank holidays usually being a Monday or Friday, I really benefit from this and actually end up with more leave than my husband every year, despite the fact that he works more hours than I do. He gets 'penalised' in the same way you do.

So yeah, it's normal but it does seem weird.

Figgygal · 25/07/2021 15:00

Same in my business
My nwd is a Friday so I have to book any that don’t fall on a Friday
Agree means having Monday as nwd works better from that perspective but I like Fridays off

JackieCollinshasnoauthority · 25/07/2021 15:00

It sounds correct. On bank holidays you get a full day off, same as a full time person. However you're only entitled to a pro-rata amount of leave so need to make up the rest from your annual leave.

confusedlots · 25/07/2021 15:01

I work part time on Wednesday to Friday and it definitely works in my favour with the bank holidays. I still end up with the same total number of days off as someone who works Monday to Wednesday, but I have more flexibility to decide when I want to take my days off, whereas they have to take so many of them on the bank holidays.

KihoBebiluPute · 25/07/2021 15:04

What fraction of Full Time are you?

If you work 80% of full time you are entitled to 80% of the amount of non-bank holiday leave that a full time worker gets, plus 80% of bank holidays. If all bank holidays happen on your working days then each time there is a bank holiday on one of your normal work days, effectively 80% of the day off comes from the bank holiday quota but 20% of the day needs to come from your annual leave. This is fair because a full time worker in a bank holiday week is still working 4 days out of 5 but you are only working 3 days out of 4 which is a bigger slice of time off proportionally.

Many employers deal with this by adding all bank holiday entitlement to the normal annual leave entitlement and then requiring all staff to book the day off as leave when there is a bank holiday.

If your employers are doing this right then you are still getting the correct amount of time off, but because your work days include mondays you are getting a bit less flexibility about how you distribute your time off through the year. That is ok - no employee actually has a cast iron right take their time off at a time of their own choosing, and employers do have the right to require you to take your annual leave at a time when it is convenient, so long as you get the number of days you are entitled to and are being treated no less favourably than a full time worker.

JackieCollinshasnoauthority · 25/07/2021 15:04

Holidays fine all makes sense bank holidays I am given 4 or 5 depending on the year

Rereading this, could you clarify if your entitled changes yearly or the number of bank holidays you have to book changes (with entitlement remaining the same).

CurryLover55 · 25/07/2021 15:05

This post has made me think. I work 16 hours a week over 4 days & one of my days off is a Monday but I don’t believe I get the Bank Holiday back as annual leave. Perhaps I need to look into this!

carolinesbaby · 25/07/2021 15:05

My annual leave entitlement is worked out in hours, pro rata for the hours I work.

So a full time employee works 38 hours a week and gets 5 weeks annual leave, so 190 hours a year. If you worked 19 hours, half a full week, you'd get 95 hours annual leave a year. Bank holidays are worked out the same, so 8 bank holidays a year is worth 60 hours leave to a full time employee, 40 hours to the half-time employee above. You take the hours you actually have off. It is definitely preferable to take Mondays as a non-working day, because then you are actually not using any hours of leave on bank holiday. My government employer doesn't care though.

mistermagpie · 25/07/2021 15:06

@CurryLover55

This post has made me think. I work 16 hours a week over 4 days & one of my days off is a Monday but I don’t believe I get the Bank Holiday back as annual leave. Perhaps I need to look into this!

You won't get all of them back probably. I work 0.69 of a full time post and get 69% of the public holidays back.

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 25/07/2021 15:07

I don't work Mondays, but its in my contract I have to work PH. So on the ones I'm scheduled for, I have to work them.

However, my full or part time colleagues who dont work mondays then need to reserve a days AL to cover all the ones they don't work. Its very annoying having to work as my DH has to then take AL off to watch our toddler DS.

Hardbackwriter · 25/07/2021 15:10

I think we have the same system but it's much easier to understand because we all have an entitlement in leave in hours, which includes all bank holidays. I get 90% of that entitlement because I work 0.9 (I work 4.5 days over 5) - every time a bank holiday falls on a day I work I get 9 hours leave taken off me, whereas if it's on a non-working day I don't use any leave. I still have the same number of hours whenever the bank holidays fall but some years (depending on when Christmas and New Year fall) I have to 'spend' more of them on bank holidays so I have fewer to take at whatever time I choose. I still have the same number of hours off work, though - and personally I like that I work on Mondays as it then means I get a lot of three day weeks throughout the year!

LittleBearPad · 25/07/2021 15:10

The approach your employer is taking is right but basically being part time and working Mondays is much worse than having it as your non-working day.

You have to use a bit of AL to cover 20% of the BH. If it’s not a working day you get 80% of a day to use when you want.

PadManic · 25/07/2021 15:11

In an average year there are 8 Bank Holidays and most of them fall on a Monday.

Let's say there are two people who both only work one day a week. A works every Monday, B works every Tuesday.

If Bank Holidays were not pro rata-ed, A would get 8 days off that year and B would get none. That's obviously not fair, so what most companies do is calculate a fair percentage of the Bank Holidays as debit or a credit to your annual leave.

For example, all people working one day a week should get 1/5 X 8 days as Bank Holiday allowance = 1.6 days.

Person A should only get 1.6 days off, but because she works Mondays will actually get 8 days off, therefore she has to have 6.4 days deducted from her annual leave to balance it out. Person B should get 1.6 days and because she's had no days off as Bank Holiday, gets the 1.6 days added to her annual leave.

The important thing is that in total both of them have had exactly the same number of days off over the course of the year. Person A has had lots of Bank Holiday Mondays. Person B has had none and has much more choice over when to take her leave, because she's not forced to take them on particular dates.

The moral of the story is that if you are part-time and want more choice on when you can select your leave, don't work Mondays!

PadManic · 25/07/2021 15:13

Gosh, it took me so long to type that, that I've probably repeated what others have said

Original poster

user6767 · 25/07/2021 15:13

Thanks everyone I work 3 * 8 hour days. My entitlement changed slightly I think depending on how many bank holidays land in the year. I can kind of understand the explanation that its so I get a fair holidays entitlement compared to full time staff. However what I don't get then is if I didn't work Mondays. I would end up with over a full weeks extra holiday than everyone else a year. Surely this isn't fair either?

Either way I think I'm going to ask to work a different day.

OP posts:

Original poster

user6767 · 25/07/2021 15:16

@PadManic that's a really good explanation thank you!

OP posts:

mistermagpie · 25/07/2021 15:17

It's fair and it isn't. Like I said, my DH works a day a week more than me but gets fewer hours of leave to take because he works on Mondays. I'd definitely swap your day of if you can and it suits you. I only work three days a week and got nearly 8 weeks annual leave this year (we have 12 public holidays where I work) because I don't work Mondays and Fridays.

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