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Warning: These articles were originally published as brief newspaper articles. The articles are not intended to be definitive advice on any particular set of circumstances. The authors and the firm of Nicholson Portnell accept no liability for any use of these articles. Specific legal advice should always be sought in all cases for any actual transactions or matters.

More Holidays For All? - March 2009

Richard Nelson

The statutory holiday entitlement is changing. The holiday entitlement increased to 4.8 weeks from 1 October 2007 and will further increase to 5.6 weeks from 1 April.

Before you start planning what to do with this extra time off, however, you should bear in mind that this holiday entitlement can include bank holidays. If you already receive paid time off for bank holidays, and a further four weeks in addition, your holiday entitlement has not increased.

You may, of course, have to work on bank holidays. Despite statutory holiday rights now having been with us for over ten years, it remains a little-known fact that there is no legal entitlement to be off work on ‘bank holidays’. Whether or not you have such holidays is a matter between you and your employer. The statutory entitlement to 5.6 weeks can be stipulated to include bank holidays. Indeed it can be stipulated to include any period, such as an annual factory shut-down.
Bear in mind too, that ‘5.6 weeks’ does not necessarily mean 28 days! If you are a part-timer working only one day a week, 5.6 weeks is only 5.6 days.

Holiday provision continues to be a legal minefield. Employees constantly wonder whether they are receiving their full entitlement or whether their employer is unreasonably requiring them to work at holiday times. For employers, and particularly small employers, the provision of paid holiday can be a huge financial burden, and they will often wish to minimise the effect of holiday disruptions on their businesses.

This is just one aspect of employment law that people very often get wrong. The law is constantly changing, and when you are concentrating on the job in hand, legal requirements are easy to overlook.

For advice on any aspect of employment law, please contact Richard Nelson, the employment law partner at Nicholson Portnell.

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