Employers and HR practitioners take note of this special occasion for 2022!
Extra bank holiday 2022
Her Majesty the Queen’s 70th anniversary as monarch will be celebrated with a 4-day weekend of national celebrations. The extra bank holiday will be allocated on Friday the 3 June 2022. This will be achieved by moving the second May bank holiday to Thursday the 2 June 2022.
Businesses should make a note of this special occasion and plan forward.
The right to take this additional bank holiday will depend on the construction of the employees’ contract of employment. Employers should therefore peruse their contract contracts now to plan forward. When an additional bank holiday is declared by the Government, this does not necessarily mean an employee will have a right to take that day off work and be paid for that day.
Annual Leave
If the contract states the employee will be given paid bank holidays as part of the annual leave entitlement, they will be entitled to take off the 2 June instead of the late May bank holiday. So, if your contract states the employee will get a set number of days leave and in addition bank holidays or public holidays, the employee will get the extra bank holiday. If the contract on the other hand defines the leave to say include 8 defined bank holidays days in this case the employee will not get the extra day of work unless the employer agrees to them booking a paid annual leave day.
Employers can however breathe easy as the where the contract states the employee gets annual leave which includes bank holiday this will not mean the employees total number of bank holidays will be increased.
On the issue of staff moral, employers’ agreement to the 4-day weekend could raise staff moral considering the misery the Covid pandemic has caused the nation, but of course the employer must carefully determine their business needs.
If you need help planning forward for this momentous occasion, please contact the Quest Advice Line for further guidance on 01455 852028.
