Under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, it is illegal to treat any workers differently from their colleagues, and this applies as much to how leave is allowed and paid as to anything else. All employees must have at least the minimum annual leave entitlement. For those working a five day week or more, this is 28 days a year. Those working fewer days or hours must be given the appropriate proportion of this amount.
What About Bank Holidays?
You can choose to include these within this annual leave entitlement or give them additionally. If you do the former, everything is straightforward. The employee is paid for a normal week or month. It makes no difference whether or not they normally work on the day of the week on which the bank holiday falls. But suppose you are like the majority of employers who give additional leave for bank holidays; how do you calculate the payment they are due?
Calculating How Much you Should Pay
The way to do it is to work out the number of hours you need to pay them for, much as you calculate the amount annual leave they should have. If your working week is 35 hours, the hours of a normal years’ eight Bank Holidays is eight times the hours of a working day, which equals 56. For a part timer working 3 full days (21 hours), the hours they should be paid for bank holidays are calculated in this way:
21 ÷ 35 x 56 = 33.6
Divide this total by eight and you get 4.2. If the rate of pay is £10 an hour the payment for a bank holiday day is £42 gross instead of £70 for a full time worker on the same hourly rate. To ensure full parity with full time workers, you would be wise to pay this amount whether or not the worker would otherwise have been at work on the bank holiday.
Keeping Within the Law
While human resources personnel should have no problem with these calculations, entrepreneurs who have a myriad of details to cope with may find it confusing. Getting help from your local bookkeepers could ensure you stay within the law and keep your staff happy and loyal.
