In 2022, the Queen will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, which marks the 70 years anniversary of her ascension to the throne. To mark the occasion, the government has announced an additional bank holiday on Friday 3rd June; the usual late May bank holiday will be pushed forward to Thursday 2nd June, giving employees the chance to enjoy a four day weekend and an additional day of paid holiday in 2022.
Or does it?
All employers will need to look at their contracts to check the specific wording, which will determine whether your employees are entitled to this as a paid day off*.
The usual wording in contracts will either be:
- X days’ paid holiday, plus paid bank holidays (with no stipulation as to the number or title of bank holiday days)
- X days’ paid holiday which includes bank holidays – this is the more usual wording
In example 1, the employee will be entitled to an additional day off and to be paid for this day.
In example 2, the employee is entitled to take the additional bank holiday, but as part of their normal annual leave entitlement. Usually, there are 8 bank holidays in a year, enabling an employee with the standard 28 days’ holiday to request when to take the other 20 days. In 2022, if their contract is worded as per example 2, then they will take 9 bank holidays in the year, thus giving them 19 days to request when to take.
Part-time employees have a pro-rata entitlement.
If your contracts are worded as per example 2 and you are going to be closed on 3rd June 2022 and will be requiring employees to take this day as part of their annual leave, you may wish to put this in writing in advance to avoid any issues.
*You can, of course, choose to grant the extra day as a discretionary goodwill gesture. The government intends this day to provide a much-needed boost to morale; many companies will treat it as such and allow it as an extra paid day off for employees.
Just Simply Organised can help with standard employment contracts and company handbooks. All employees are entitled to a contract from their first day of employment and situations such as the above show how important it is to have contracts in place to avoid any misunderstandings.
