To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee there will be an extra bank holiday in 2022 – the additional bank holiday will be on Friday 3rd June and the Spring Bank Holiday (normally due to take place on the last Monday in May) will be moved to Thursday 2nd June.
So, what will employers need to do?
1. Extra bank holiday – identify the position in your organisation
Whether employees are entitled to take paid time off on the extra bank holiday will depend on their contract of employment as there is no statutory right to it. Employers will need to check the wording of their contracts.
If for example, employees are entitled to 20 days holiday plus eight bank holidays and these are set out, employees will not be entitled to paid time off on the extra bank holiday (or to have it as a day’s holiday on top of their usual holiday entitlement). If Kingfisher Professional Services Ltd has drafted your organisation’s contracts, you may have a specific clause regarding the situation where an extra bank holiday is declared.
If you are unsure what your employees’ rights are in relation to the additional bank holiday, please contact Kingfisher Professional Services Ltd for advice.
Where there is no contractual entitlement to take the additional bank holiday as paid time off, employers will have discretion as to how to treat the additional day. When deciding on which approach is right for the organisation employers may wish to ascertain how they have treated other previous extra bank holidays such as the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2012 (particularly if existing employees were working for the organisation at that time) as well as considering how the organisation’s decision is likely to be received by employees.
Options for employers include:
- As a gesture of goodwill, giving employees the additional bank holiday as an extra day of paid annual leave or if that is not possible for business reasons, providing paid time off in lieu.
- Requiring employees who wish to take the extra bank holiday off to make a holiday request in the usual way with it coming out of their existing holiday entitlement.
- Where the organisation won’t be operating on the additional bank holiday, e.g the office will be closed, notifying employees that they will be required to use a day’s holiday on that day (bear in mind appropriate notice will need to be given)
- Requiring employees to work on the extra bank holiday (employers should check the contract of employment to ascertain whether enhanced pay would be applicable)
If you wish to discuss your options, or you would like advice on any employment law matter, please contact Kingfisher Professional Services Ltd for advice.
2. Communicate with employees
To avoid issues arising and to help employees plan ahead, it’s important to communicate the position in your organisation with regards to the extra bank holiday in good time. If you would like assistance with a memo regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact Kingfisher Professional Services Ltd.
If you would like advice on an employment law matter, please contact us as we are happy to help.