Bank Holiday pay/time off in lieu as a Maternity nurse

[dividedself]

I'm currently on a 6 week placement maternity nursing - it was extended from 4-6 weeks and has now meant that one of the last weeks falls across the Easter holiday. I am working one of the coming BH days as agreed due to the father of baby being away on business, that's fine.

However, the other bank holiday day this weekend I am being given off. We have not discussed payment and I'm unsure what to suggest when I have this discussion. Admittedly this should have been agreed at the start of the contract, but as I say the whole placement has been unexpectedly extended so hadn't anticipated encountering this.

They are a lovely and accommodating family so I do not wish to be at all mercenary, just fair.

any help would be appreciated.

In summary, over the two coming Bank holiday days,Iam working one for normal weekly pay and off for the other presumably without pay. Do I ask for pay for the day off and extra for the BH that I work?

dividedself whether these days are bank holidays or not is irrelevant really. The point is you are entitled to a certain amount of paid time off, 4.8 weeks in a year, so whatever proportion of that is appropriate for your contract, and if your employer wants one of those days to be taken on a day that happens to be a bank holiday, that's fine. If they want you to work on a bank holiday, that's also fine.

So if they are telling you that, say, Friday, you must take one of your holiday days, then you should be paid for it.

What does your contract say about holiday?

Thank you. So, essentially I need to divide the no of days holiday per year by 52 and multiply by 6 weeks thatI'm contracted to this client? Maths is not my strong point

I'm not sure it is as simple as that, as I understand that normal practice is for maternity nurses to be self-employed. As such they don't normally get paid holidays, most seem to take time off between contracts instead. Although I agree with FBB, that normally working this kind of pattern for one family would be treated as employment, for some reason maternity nurses seem to be allowed by HRMC to be self-employed.

Do you have a tutor that you can discuss this with, or a mentor of some kind to see what the normal practice is?

No I don't normally mat nurse - I run my own business consulting in behaviour management but do temp nanny/mat nurse jobs in-between so no, no mentor or tutor. The job came through ShinyDyson but can't get holdof her to ask.

Who is paying your tax bill for your earnings?

Normally mat nurses pay it themselves and are self-employed. If this is the case, then you would not normally be paid for holidays.