This year Easter falls early with Good Friday being on the 30th March and Easter Monday on the 2nd April and as a result some employees may be entitled to an extra day’s holiday.
Extra Holidays In 2018
Which employees are affected?
All employees with a holiday year running from 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2019 will be affected as they will not have a Good Friday bank holiday because it falls in the previous holiday year.
What does an Employer need to do?
To avoid breaching their employees ‘annual leave rights. Employers will need to top up employee holiday entitlements for 2018/2019 for any employees who are entitled to 20 days holiday plus bank holidays.
Under working time rules, employees are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ annual leave. This equates to 28 days’ leave per year for employees working a five-day week. The 28 days can include bank holidays, of which there are usually eight per year.
The 28-day entitlement is a statutory minimum and the employer cannot negotiate out of it, other than by an agreement with the workforce to carry forward up to eight days’ holiday into the following leave year.
Bank holidays in April 2018 to March 2019 holiday year:
- Monday 2 April
- Monday 7 May
- Monday 28 May
- Monday 27 August
- Tuesday 25 December
- Wednesday 26 December
- Tuesday 1 January
These are the England and Wales bank holidays.
Will this situation occur again?
In 2024, the Easter weekend will again straddle March and April. Good Friday is on 31 March and Easter Monday is on 1 April.
Is there a permanent solution?
Employers could negotiate with their employees to agree a variation to the terms of contracts of employment.
Annual leave contract clauses could be amended to state that employees are entitled to 28 days’ annual leave and that this includes bank holidays.
For more information, please contact us on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form and a member of our Employment Law team will be happy to help.