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Do not Bank on a Days Holiday for Royal Wedding- 28/01/2011
Many workers will not be entitled to a day off for the forthcoming Royal Wedding, unless employers specifically grant them one, according a leading Wolverhampton employment lawyer.
Tracy Worthington, Partner and Head of Employment at West Midlands law firm FBC Manby Bowdler LLP, says that it depends entirely on the wording of their employment contract, as to whether employees can have a day’s holiday on 29 April to mark the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
“Many workers do not have an automatic right to paid leave on bank holidays,” explains Mrs Worthington. “Contracts that list specific bank holidays that staff are entitled to, such as Christmas Day or Good Friday, will not entitle them to an extra day off, nor necessarily will contracts which state they are allowed 28 days’ annual holiday inclusive of bank holidays.
“Only contracts which state the worker is entitled to four weeks' holiday a year plus bank holidays will be entitled.”
According to Mrs Worthington, employers do not have to recognise bank holidays as part of a worker’s holiday entitlement.
She says: “The only legal obligation on an employer is to allow their workers the minimum annual leave laid down in the Working Time Regulations 1998, which is 28 days for a full-time worker.
“While some employers might be willing to grant staff an additional day’s holiday for the Royal Wedding, others might struggle to do so for financial, organisational or practical reasons, so they would be wise to check employees’ contracts of employment, before deciding on a course of action which will suit their business,” concludes Mrs Worthington.
With 36 partners, FBC Manby Bowdler is one of the largest law firms in the West Midlands. The firm has offices in Wolverhampton, Willenhall, Telford, Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.