Having a holiday policy in place to manage time off and leave requests will be even more important in 2012 with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  The policy should be fair and consistent whilst maintaining employee morale during the festivities.  There will be an additional bank holiday on Tuesday 5 June and the Spring Bank Holiday will be Monday 4 June so potentially with an extra three days booked employees could take a nine day holiday.  It coincides with the summer half term so employers may face a huge number of holiday requests.

There is no statutory right to bank/public holidays, so the announcement of an extra bank holiday does not increase any entitlement to holiday under the Working Time Regulations. Whether an employee will benefit from the additional bank holiday will depend on the wording of their contract.  A contract which entitles a worker to 20 days annual leave + public holidays would potentially give the worker an extra day’s paid holiday whereas a contractual clause stating 28 days including bank holidays would not entitle employees to an additional public holiday. There is no legal right to be paid any extra for working a bank holiday. This will depend on the terms of the employment contract.

Employers need to consider are clashing leave requests  and ensuring sufficient cover so they need to plan ahead to avoid any pitfalls.