This year, there will be an additional bank holiday on Monday 8th May 2023 across the United Kingdom to celebrate King Charles’ Coronation. As with similar extra bank holidays previously granted, schools will shut but shops and businesses will not be forced to close.
With another unanticipated public holiday, business owners may be unclear as to whether their employees are automatically entitled to the day off. Unfortunately, the legal position is not entirely straightforward and will depend largely on the wording of their contract of employment as well as their usual work pattern.
Contract is Key - Are my Employees Entitled to the Day Off?
When it comes to UK bank holiday entitlement, there is actually no statutory right to receiving paid leave on 8th May or any other national bank holiday. The law provides that a minimum of 5.6 weeks of leave per year must be provided, which may or may not include bank holidays.
However, employees may have a contractual right to be paid time off on the Coronation Bank holiday, depending on the terms of their contract of employment. As a result, the wording of their contracts will be crucial. Where the employment contract says that employees are entitled to ‘x days of annual leave plus bank/public holidays’, there would be an entitlement to an extra bank holiday.
If, however, their contracts state that their total annual leave entitlement includes the ‘normal, usual or standard bank holidays’ or is silent on entitlement to bank holidays, they will not be entitled to this additional holiday and an employer could potentially require them to work that day.
Similarly, some contracts may provide for a certain number of public holidays (without stating particular dates) in addition to the total annual leave entitlement. Again, where this applies, employees will also not be entitled to an extra day for the Coronation Bank holiday. In such circumstances, they can ask for time off for the 8th May but it will be deducted from their usual annual leave entitlement. The employer is also not obliged to grant any particular request for holidays (assuming they would permit the employee to take the leave at another time during the holiday year) but should only turn down any request on reasonable grounds.
When there is No Contractual Entitlement to Time Off
Where there is no contractual entitlement to paid leave on the Coronation Bank holiday, an employer will need to decide to either:
- open the business and require the employees to work that day as normal or take annual leave where appropriate,
- close the business on the extra bank holiday and let employees take the day as leave out of their annual leave entitlement or
- close the business on the extra bank holiday and grant employees an extra day’s paid leave as a gesture of goodwill.
Whatever you choose to do, you should review your contracts of employment in good time and communicate your position to employees well in advance of the bank holiday so that everyone is aware of the situation.
Do I Have to Close on the Coronation Bank Holiday if my Employees are Entitled to the Extra Bank Holiday?
It is not always possible or desirable for a business to close on a bank holiday, especially in sectors such as retail and hospitality which may be busier over the long weekend. Some businesses and organisations may decide to close on the day of the bank holiday, although there is no obligation on them to do so.
Even if your employees are entitled to the extra holiday, you can choose to open on 8th May and then provide your employees with a day off in lieu at another time. Again, this should be communicated to employees in advance to avoid damaging employee relations.
Be aware that even if you choose to remain open, you may receive several requests to take holiday on 8th May as employees may want to be off work at the same time as family and friends or may have children off school and therefore have childcare responsibilities. In such circumstances, it is important to deal with holiday requests fairly and consistently to avoid claims of discrimination or unfair treatment. Make sure you abide by any policies or procedures you have in place dealing with annual leave requests and that employees are aware of these.
Will Employees Who Work on the Extra Bank Holiday be Entitled to Extra Pay?
Some employees working on the Coronation Bank holiday, such as shift workers, might expect to be paid a higher rate of pay. However, unless the contract of employment specifies a higher rate of pay for any bank holidays worked, then there is no legal requirement to pay employees extra if they work on 8th May.
Part-Time Workers and Bank Holiday Entitlement
Part-time workers who would not usually be working on the bank holiday, because it is not one of their working days, would miss out if the extra day off is only granted to those employees who do normally work on that day. Employers need to be mindful that part-time workers are not treated less favourably than full-time workers when it comes to annual leave entitlement. Therefore, if the extra day is being given, all part-time workers should be given a prorated bank holiday entitlement, regardless of whether they normally work that day, to avoid the risk of a less-favourable-treatment-of-part-time-workers claim.
What Should I Do Now?
If you have not done so already, you should review your contracts of employment to establish if your employees are legally entitled to the extra bank holiday. Where you are not required by contract to give time off, you should consider the approach you are going to take. It may be relevant to look at what position the business took for other additional bank holidays, such as for the Jubilee, to establish consistency but this does not mean that legally the same approach needs to be taken.
In the current economic climate, not all employers will be able to afford to offer an extra bank holiday if they are not required to do so and this is understandable. However, an extra day off may help to boost employee morale and given the skills shortage in the UK, many employers are keen to retain their best people and may choose to give employees the extra day off regardless of the legal position. If you do go down this route, it may be sensible, however, to manage future expectations by making employees aware that this is a one-off extra benefit, rather than an entitlement.
If you have any questions on this topic or have any other leave-related queries, please feel free to contact our experienced employment team via email.
