Hear ye, hear ye…three bank holidays in one month?!

Whilst many employees may be looking forward to planning three long weekends in May this year, many employers may be left questioning whether their workforce is in fact entitled to all three upcoming bank holidays.

As many employers may be aware, there are typically two bank holidays that fall in May – one at the beginning of the month and one at the end of the month. However, in light of King Charles’ coronation on 6^th May 2023, the nation has been given an additional bank holiday two days later (on 8^th May 2023) to commemorate the occasion.

Are your employees entitled to all three bank holidays?

The answer to this question ultimately depends on the wording of an employee’s contract of employment. I have prepared a short and sweet synopsis of how to determine the answer for your business:

1. If ‘all’ bank holidays are included in employee’s holiday entitlement then this would afford your employees the right to all three bank holidays in May this year but the additional bank holiday would be naturally deducted from their overall yearly entitlement;
2. If ‘all’ bank holidays are given in addition to an employee’s holiday entitlement then this would afford your employees the right to all three bank holidays in May this year without the additional bank holiday affecting their overall yearly entitlement;
3. If ‘the usual 8 bank holidays’ (or 9 bank holidays if you recognise the Scottish bank holidays) are included in an employee’s holiday entitlement then this would afford your employees the right to the two usual bank holidays in May this year only – they would not be automatically entitled to paid or unpaid time off on 8^th May 2023 unless they request this in line with your holiday policy/procedure.

Employers should review the contracts of employees who work pro-rated hours, as their bank holiday entitlement will be subsequently prorated based on the hours worked each week.

If you wished to close your business on 8^th May 2023 in line with the King’s celebrations where your employees would be otherwise expecting to work, you could either:

• offer your employees an additional paid day of annual leave; or
• give your employees at least two days’ notice of this bank holiday to ‘enforce’ the additional bank holiday across the workforce.

How the latter option will affect your employees’ holiday entitlement will depend on whether your employees’ contracts have adopted the wording in a), b) or c) above.

Our employment team have a vast experience of assisting employers with queries on their obligations to employees (you could say that providing such support is one of the ‘jewels in our crown’). If you need some bespoke advice about a specific situation please do not hesitate to get in touch!

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