Queen’s death and bank holidays – what employers need to know

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the government has confirmed that on Monday 19th September 2022, there will be an additional bank holiday for the state funeral.

As an employer, you will need to consider bank holiday law, what action you will take and whether or not you are closing for the day. If you are, you will need to decide whether to give employees a discretionary extra day or require them to use a day of annual leave. Alternatively, if you decide not to close, you will need to establish who is entitled to take the day off and how to deal with any challenges.
In this article, we outline the key considerations that you need to know for the upcoming bank holiday next week.

The employment contract

An employer should refer to their employee’s contract of employment in the first instance. We have included some of the commonly used clauses relating to bank holidays and whether they provide an employee with entitlement to an extra day’s paid leave.

Example 1 – ‘plus bank and public holidays’

‘20 days holiday per year plus bank and public holidays’ or ‘four weeks holiday per year plus bank and public holidays’

Yes, this gives the employee the right to an extra day’s paid leave on the day it falls, provided there is no other provision elsewhere in the contract allowing for you as the employer to ask the employee to work on some bank holidays. If you have the right to postpone the holiday, the extra day will be added to the employee’s annual leave entitlement this year.

Example 2 – holidays ‘normally observed’

‘20 days holiday per year plus bank and public holidays that are normally observed in England and Wales’ or ‘four weeks holiday plus bank and public holidays that are normally observed in England and Wales’

No, this does not give the employee the right to an extra day’s paid leave. The contract stipulates that only bank holidays that are ‘normally observed’ are included. The bank holiday on Monday 19th September is not normally observed and the employee is not entitled to it unless they use their existing holiday allowance.

Example 3 – exhaustive lists

’20 days holiday per year plus New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, early May bank holiday, spring bank holiday, Christmas day and Boxing day’

No, this does not give the employee the right to an extra day’s paid leave. The contract sets out the standard eight bank holidays only, as an exhaustive list.

Example 4 – fixed number

‘28 days holiday per year’ or ‘5.6 weeks holiday per year’

No, this does not give the employee the right to an extra day’s paid leave. The number of holiday days is fixed and there is no entitlement to an extra day’s paid leave. Employees must make a holiday request if they want to take time off on a bank holiday, unless their contract specifies that they are required to take bank holidays off. If an employee chose to take a day off on 19th September, this would count as a day’s leave and would be deducted from their allowance.

Further support

For more in-depth guidance or support on the issues covered in this article, book a free 30-minute consultation with our Employment team today.

This content is correct at time of publication