Bank holiday entitlement and maternity leave

[PavlovtheForgetfulCat]

I emailed my HR manager a while ago regarding maternity leave and bank holiday and was emailed back saying yes it is accrued and that I need to take it all before I go maternity leave as maternity leave crosses years.

A colleague has recently received an email from the same HR manager stating that she needs to deduct the hours for christmas day, one statutory day on 28th Dec (when office is closed) and new years day from her holiday entitlement before she takes her leave.

We are both part time, and our leave is worked out in terms of total hours including bank holiday rather than days. We are both due around the same time.

Can you tell me firstly which one is more likely to be correct, and secondly if mine is not correct should I just pretend I don't know my colleague has this email as mine states I get the leave entitlement . Seriously though, if you can guide me to some legislation to evidence that BH is accrued, that would be good.

I'm a bit confused about this as well because last month I unexpectedly received full pay for the BH (I'm on SMP) and when I queried it I was told that there has been a recent change in legislation that means you get paid for BHs while on ML - HR didn't say what legislation though so not much help!

Oh bonus for you!

I recall a thread a while ago with flowerybeanbag advising on this, but I cannot recall the outcome of it! I do recall that legislation changed to reflect that all benefits an employee gets should be given while on maternity leave, but I am not sure whether this applied to bank holidays, or if there was some specific criteria that made this so (that rings a bell for some reason).

In particular I am confused about the statutory day, as this is not in fact a bank holiday at all, but a day the office closes at christmas (varies each year) so is annual leave but at a specific time. So even if we are not entitled to claim the BH back, then this day is surely still part of my annual leave entitlement?

Have a look at the first paragraph of 'holiday entitlement' on this link, as well as the paragraph on terms and conditions. You continue to accrue paid holiday as normal during maternity leave, and the fact that under normal circumstances you have to take some of that holiday on bank holidays doesn't mean you lose it. You also continue to get all your contractual benefits, and again, paid leave isn't excluded from that.

Having said that, it may be possible to word a contract such that an employee might lose bank holidays during maternity leave, or at least to make it less clear cut, but if your holiday entitlement is expressed as a total Pavlov then that doesn't sound like the case anyway.

Thanks flowerybeanbag .

I think therefore I will push the issue if HR tells me to deduct the bank holidays.

Apparantly her advice to a colleague was after advise from a Union member. But I am not convinced they always get it right, anyway!