Understanding Employees Bank Holiday Entitlements

Employees Bank Holiday entitlements contractual rights and obligations 

Are employees entitled to additional bank holidays ?

If the contract of employment specifies 8 bank holidays or all usual bank holidays employees will not be entitled to any additional bank holidays that may be put in place such as the King’s Coronation 

If employees work an extra bank holiday are they entitled to an extra day off ?

Unless the contract of employment specifically states that the employee is entitled to any additional bank holidays over and above the normal standard (8 per year), employees would not normally be entitled to a day off in lieu for working an extra bank holiday.

Do we have to pay overtime for employees working a bank holiday ?

There is no legal entitlement to be paid any addition increased rate for working bank holidays unless it is specified in the employees contracted terms.

Part time employees don’t get bank holidays as they don’t normal work them.

False: If an employee does not normally work a day on which a bank holiday falls they are still entitled to a pro rata parentage of the bank holiday based on the number of hours worked per week.

Is there an automatic right for employees to have bank holidays off work ?

There is no automatic or statutory right for employees not to work bank holidays, the employees’ rights in relation to working or not working bank holidays is specified in their contract of employment or contracted terms.

Can an employer refuse to allow an employee to book leave on a bank holiday ?

Where an employee is required to normally work statutory holidays and requests to book a bank holiday as annual leave it can be refused by an employer. However care should be taken to only refuse a request for good business reasons and to be consistent, failure to do so may result in claims for discrimination at tribunal.