To mark the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III on Saturday 6 May 2023, there will be an additional one-off Public Holiday on Monday 8 May 2023.
It is therefore important to consider what rights your employees have in relation to this additional holiday.
Do employees automatically have the right to the extra public holiday?
There is no automatic statutory right to paid time off on a public holiday and therefore an employee’s entitlement will depend on what it says in their contract of employment.
What contract wording would automatically give the employee the right to the additional bank holiday?
If the employee’s contract says that the employee has the right to a certain number of days of holidays per annum, ‘plus bank holidays’ without providing any further details of those holidays, then the employee would have a right to be paid and take this additional days holiday.
What if the employment contract states that the employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks ‘inclusive of any bank holidays’?
If the contract says that the employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks ‘inclusive of any bank holidays’, and those bank holidays are not specified, then they will be entitled to take the additional bank holiday, but their overall number of holidays will not increase above 5.6 weeks holiday; and the extra bank holiday will have to come off their annual holiday entitlement.
If employees do not have the right to this extra bank holiday, what are my options?
Inform employees that the business will be closing on the date of the bank holiday. In this situation, as it is the employer’s decision to close, employees would be entitled to be paid for the day.
Employers can access their right to require employees to take holiday by giving notice which is at least equivalent to twice the length of the duration of the holiday. Employers could therefore give at least 2 business days’ notice to employees that they are required to take the day as holiday. This is unlikely to be received well by employees. Most employers will not do this as it will have a significant effect on employee morale and engagement, and potentially in the longer term on employee retention. There are also potential issues if employees have already taken or booked their entire entitlement for the holiday year.
Inform employees that the business will be open and for specified business reasons, the usual holiday guidelines will have to apply to this bank holiday.
If you have any questions about how this is likely to affect you and your business, please contact us on 01483 362732 or email info@guildford-hr.co.uk