Part-timers and BH entitlement

[EmmaStone]

How does your company calculate BH entitlement for part-timers? I've worked PT for many years and it's always been calculated the same way: the number of BHs are pro-rated, added to my holiday allowance and I then deduct a day's holiday for any BHs that fall on my working days. When I had a Wednesday as a non working day, it meant I needed to use my 'normal' holiday to cover BHs, but when I had a Monday as a non working day, I actually ended up with more holiday.

A member of my team (who has recently gone PT) thinks this is really unfair and says it has never been calculated that way anywhere they've worked before. We discussed BHs basically being completely disregarded from holidays altogether (our office shouldn't need to open on BHs, so everyone would be off).

So I'm curious how other places do it.

Thanks Everyone. I always felt the way we do it seemed the fairest, and if they don't like it, they can flex their days accordingly.

I used to get hammered by BH because I worked Mondays as a part timer. I had to use a lot of holiday entitlement for days I didn’t want to take off - I’d have happily worked them! My colleague who didn’t work Mondays accrued loads of hours that she could then take when she liked. I found it grossly unfair.

Yes this was exactly my predicament. Plus the extra holiday the following year for the coronation.

We do it the same way as you OP.

Off topic but I’m really surprised by the number of people saying 35h is full time - is that new?

NHS is 37.5 for most staff, 40h for consultants (but many do more than full time) and 48h for junior docs. Assumed 37-40 was standard full time.

I have always preferred to convert to hours, pro-rate all leave then deduct BH falling on working days only. This should end up with the same result as your method.

These are fair methods, the one your colleague is proposing is not.

I think most people do it your way (or wrongly where they just give it to people as they fall which can discriminate against PT workers or fall below the legal minimum!!! It's a very common error for teams that don't have many PT employees).

A friend who works in the education system (but works school holidays) gets a pro rata share to use in the week of the bank holiday. Eg if the bank holiday falls on a non working day and the person works 50% of a FTE then they get 4 hrs off at some time in the same week. It achieves the same result but it's a bit odd to get a fraction of a day.

I suppose it takes away some of the frustration when PT employees who don't work Mondays seem to get more freedom of choosing when their bank holidays are taken.

I do one day.

The queens funeral holiday -I got an extra 0.2 of a day.

But if I worked that day normally and wanted it off I'd have had to use up 1 day.

So in theory 0.8 down. But actually I am 0.2 up and just have been forced to lose flexibility of when I use a day.

I luckily I can move days each week to still do my day if I wish so I avoided that issue.

We do it the same as you. I originally worked part time mon-wed then last year upped my hours and changed my days to Tue-Fri. By doing that I then ‘gained’ 4 days worth of holiday to take whenever I wanted and that feels like a lot when your part time and have so few hours anyway.

My employer does this following which has never felt right:

I work 20hrs / wk. FT 37hr.

Employer says if FT* everyone gets 28 days statutory hol. There are the 8 BH days removed from this. This then leaves 20 days equivalent to 4 full weeks leave. Ppl who work PT therefore get 80 hrs leave prorata (so for me, 80×20/37).

[*90% of staff are PT on same hrs as me, between us we each work 4x 5hr shits (= 20 hrs per wk) to cover the 5x 10hr days Mon-Fri the business operates]

This feels completely unfair as I don't work Mondays so loose BH equivalent leave. Others who work Mon regularly are getting those hours off & back as extra leave unless I'm missing something.

One of the issues is the rota seems to get re-done whenever the manager feels like (small business) & in theory my days could change mid yr to include Mondays which I think is why they'd say they do this so it's easier for management to manage than issue & track hours of leave entitlement, which would be much fairer.

I'm thankfully leaving soon. This is the tip of the iceberg where I work with dodgy implementation of terms & employee rights.

I work for a local authority.

So I get the pro rata bank holiday entitlement added to my annual leave to take when I want. If a bank holiday falls on my working day (Thursday or Friday) those hours are taken off my holiday allowance.

It is better to not work Mondays if you are part time.

I’m extremely lucky. I work three days and get 3/5 of holiday entitlement PLUS all bank holidays. The business actually shuts on BH. None of my colleagues have ever said anything to me about it.
But, I have been there a very long time and I am salaried rather than hourly paid and can work from home. So often work on a BH or weekend in order to get the job done.

When DH worked PT he had to use his Leave to cover it. However, all pt workers got a different allowance that they could only use if the work day fell on a bh.

So it put them on the same field as everyone else

I once worked for a small charity that gave 20 days a/l plus all bank hols. The 20 days was prorated but the bank holidays wasn’t- very much a we are closed and everyone is being paid as we’ve chosen to close’.

I have not read the whole thread, but the way your colleague suggests it should be done is illegal. It would mean that part-time employees who don't work on Mondays (that being the day when most bank holidays fall) get less holiday pro-rata than their full-time colleagues, which is not allowed. The way your employer does it is the correct way to calculate the minimum holiday allowance for part-time staff.

@Chiefspidercatcher - Whilst I haven't read the whole thread, your post caught my eye. Your employer is clearly acting illegally by not giving part-time staff any bank holiday entitlement. By my calculation, you are entitled to 112 hours paid holiday a year. Any bank holidays that fall on one of your working days come out of that.

This was my gut instinct.

So many very wrong things go on at this employment. Not sure if I can report the holiday allowance to someone official after I leave though, as I've not got the energy to battle it now when I'm moving on soon. Also none of my colleagues seem to have an issue with it & haven't been very supportive to me in my brief time there in terms of the appalling way ive been treated, it's an 'each man for himsrlf' culture which I'm tempted to just leave behind, leave them to it once I'm out & not look back. Just my moral voice still whispering 'this is wrong'. It's such a cowboy set up.