Part-time Bank Holidays

Flexible when it suits

One of your workers decided to avail therself of there right under the flexible working rules (Employment Act 2002) to request a move from full to part-time hours. You're happy to agree to this but you've both reached a stalemate over there rights to paid Bank Holidays. It seems that she wants the flexible hours, but still expects you to cough up a full entitlement. Must you agree to this, or is there an alternative that's more to your advantage? If so, can you save yourself money?

The legal position

Apart from a right to request flexible hours, the Part-time Workers ( Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 are also relevant. These require that part-timers aren't treated less favourably than their full-time counterparts. A common problem that often arises is the sorting out of Bank Holiday entitlements during the transition from full to part-time hours. However, the key to compliance lies in offering leave on a pro-rata basis. Do this and any allegations of less favourable treatment will fail.

Monday working preferred

One issue that may be raised in relation to a pro-rata entitlement concerns the choice of days to be worked. This is because it's more advantageous for your worker to include Mondays in there part-time schedule than Fridays because four Bank Holidays fall on a Monday, with only one guaranteed to fall on a Friday (Good Friday). Should Christmas day and New Year's Day also fall on a Monday, they would be quids in. However, this would be very unfair for another part-timer who didn't work Mondays. For this reason, the Department of Trade and Industry recommends that part-timers be given a set number of days off irrespective of the days that they actually work.

The numbers game

As long as benefits etc are offered on a basis that's proportionate to the amount of days worked in a given week, you won't be guilty of less favourable treatment in respect of this part-timer. There are eight Bank Holidays a year, which consist of four Mondays, Plus Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. But don't worry about having to carry out complex calculations into Bank Holiday entitlement. its far easier than you think.

Example – try this formula

Days worked / five days X nine Bank Holidays

If this worker reduces her hours to four days per week, this would work out at 4/5days X 9 days = 7.2 Bank Holidays. Working two days would mean 3.6 days. If a half day is involved, then the same principle applies.

TIP Round up ( to the nearest half) any odd number of days, instead of down. This will avoid any accusations of less favourable and therefore discriminatory treatment.

Amend your contracts

Your contracts of employment should be specific on the amount of Bank Holiday leave that a part-time worker is entitled to.

Tip A common mistake is failing to amend contracts to reflect Bank Holiday leave. Unless you want your part-timers to remain entitled to the full amount, alter their contracts accordingly.

You don't have to pay part timers for all Bank Holidays. Instead, introduce a system whereby you pay on a pro-rata basis according to days worked. Be prepared to amend your employment