Every year thousands of employees are denied their rights to annual leave – so say the UK Citizens Advice Bureau. In a recent report, they claim to have dealt with a staggering 87,725 cases in the last 3 years where employees were denied their legal right to holiday entitlement. What’s more, disputes over holiday pay and entitlement on one of the most common causes of an Employment Tribunal Claim.
Employment law in this area is fairly simple however. The 1998 Working Time Regulations give all employees rights to at least 28 days [ 5.6 weeks] holiday every year – part-time employees are entitled to a pro rather share of this entitlement.
The critical point for employers however is that you can, if you wish, INCLUDE any bank or public holiday in this entitlement – provided you include this provision in the content of employment. So, for example, you could insist that the bank holiday for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee next year comes from their automatic entitlement – and that they therefore receive that days holiday with an additional 19, rather than 20, flexible days.
The advice from our employment lawyers is simple – make sure your contracts of employment, or written statement of employment particulars, says the right thing – and if you haven’t included bank holidays as part of their actual entitlement, make sure that you allow staff the right holiday – or risk an employment tribunal claim for breach of contract.