Bank Holiday Entitlements

Jacqui24

I hope someone can help me. I am currently required to work 12 hour shifts on Bank Holiday's . If i work a weekend i work 12 hour shifts and on occasion i would also be required to work 12 hour shifts during the week. I also work 8 and 10 hour shifts with my monthly hours having to reach 169 . What i need to know is what are my entitlements for the bank holiday ? My contract states that if i am required to work a bank holiday i am entitled to "The Equivalent time off in lieu " . I would have thought that this meant if i work 12 hours i get 12 hours in lieu ? Currently my employer only allocates me 8 hours in lieu and he also tells me when i have to take it . I have read through all the legal articles Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 etc etc but nowhere does it say i get the same hours as i have worked. Anyone else i know that work for other companies get the same hours as they have worked in lieu. Can someone please point me in the direction of an article that states my entitlement clearly or give me some advice on this . Any help greatly appreciated ( first time user )

Love2love

I could be wrong but it seems your employer is right. If you are not working it, you are entitled to 1/5 of your working week. 169 hours per month is 39 hours per week so you'd be entitled to 7.8 hours for the bank holiday.

Jacqui24

But i am working it and i am working 12 hours ?

toadfly

Jacqui24 wrote: »

But i am working it and i am working 12 hours ?

So you get paid 12 hours for working plus an additional 8 hours. That is correct based on your hours.

Jacqui24

toadfly wrote: »

So you get paid 12 hours for working plus an additional 8 hours. That is correct based on your hours.

Yes that's what I am currently getting. Is that all I am entitled to? What I don't understand is if another member of staff works 8 hours on the bank holiday they get 8 in lieu yet I work 12 and still only get 8 in lieu.

davo10

Jacqui24 wrote: »

Yes that's what I am currently getting. Is that all I am entitled to? What I don't understand is if another member of staff works 8 hours on the bank holiday they get 8 in lieu yet I work 12 and still only get 8 in lieu.

If you work 12 hours on a bank holiday Monday and get a day in lieu, let's say you decide to take the following Monday off, you are getting another 12 hour day in lieu of the bank holiday you worked, the following Monday.

Jacqui24

davo10 wrote: »

If you work 12 hours on a bank holiday Monday and get a day in lieu, let's say you decide to take the following Monday off, you are getting another 12 hour day in lieu of the bank holiday you worked, the following Monday.

That's my point I'm not. .I'm only getting 7.8 hours. ..When my hour's on my roster are added up the day I'm given in lieu of my 12 hour bank holiday shift is only counted as 7.8 hour's

toadfly

You are entitled to 1/5 of your average weekly hours - not exactly what you normally work on that day.

daheff

if your contract has better terms than the minimum laid out in legislation then whatever is in your contract is the benefit you are entitled to, other wise its legislation. If you are entitled to time off in lieu, then look for it for the next day you should be working a 12 hour shift.


If your boss is taking the piss on bank holidays (or you see it that way) tell them you aren't available for bank holiday work.

Jacqui24

daheff wrote: »

if your contract has better terms than the minimum laid out in legislation then whatever is in your contract is the benefit you are entitled to, other wise its legislation. If you are entitled to time off in lieu, then look for it for the next day you should be working a 12 hour shift.


If your boss is taking the piss on bank holidays (or you see it that way) tell them you aren't available for bank holiday work.

Tried that basically got told "work them or find another job"

toadfly

Are you not getting it OP? They are following the law, I dont think there is anything you can do.

Jacqui24

toadfly wrote: »

Are you not getting it OP? They are following the law, I dont think there is anything you can do.

Excuse my ignorance. .OP?

toadfly

Jacqui24 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance. .OP?

Original Poster

Jacqui24

toadfly wrote: »

Original Poster

Oh I see ... thanks for clearing that up I'm a first time user so not quite with the Acronyms used here just yet.

Yes I'm getting it ....was just more interested to see what the take was the contract statement that I put in the original post but nobody has mentioned that as yet. "Equivalent time in lieu ".

jimmycrackcorm

Love2love wrote:

I could be wrong but it seems your employer is right. If you are not working it, you are entitled to 1/5 of your working week. 169 hours per month is 39 hours per week so you'd be entitled to 7.8 hours for the bank holiday.

His contract supersedes that by staying he is entitled to the equivalent hours in lieu. Otherwise if you follow that logic, working a half day or 4 hours on the bank holiday would entitle 1/5 of The week.

If not worked then the pay entitlement is fixed at 1/5 regardless

Alltherage

Looking at the SI it does look like the 1/5th of a working week rule explicitly applies is if you don't work it and it falls on a day that you wouldn't normally work. Neither of which is true here.
The rest of it seems to refrence an average working day worked out over 13 weeks is that average working week divided by 5 or is it divided by days worked?

exaisle

Jacqui24 wrote: »

My contract states that if i am required to work a bank holiday i am entitled to "The Equivalent time off in lieu " . I would have thought that this meant if i work 12 hours i get 12 hours in lieu ?

The minimum requirements are irrelevant here as is the 1/5th of a week rule as the terms of the contract give the employee rights in excess of the statutory.

I think the OP is quite right and they are due 12 hours in lieu in addition to getting paid normally for the bank/public holiday worked.

As to how they proceed is up to them. If the employer refuses to at least discuss the matter, they can refer it to the WRC...although they may decide to seek the advice of a solicitor who has expertise on employment law.

_Brian

I can add that I worked shifts before. If I worked a 12 hour on the BH I got that in lieu, if it was 8 hours I got that in lieu.

cml387

We have that situation.
The Bank holiday is counted as 8 hours. Not 12 hours.
So your employer is right in offering you 8 hours in lieu.

ED E

Used to get the full 8hrs when I was a PTer doing 4hrs. Was wonderful.

nosilver

If you are on 7 day roster and there are no supplementary payments for weekends, late night etc, and your work week is an average 40 hours, then the bank holiday is just another day in the roster and your entiltement is 1/5th of your average week either as additional pay or time off in lieu (employer decides)

If you were working 20 hours a week and all those hours were on Tues/wed/thurs, your are STILL entitled to bank holiday pay / time off in lieu at 1/5th of your week (4 hours)

That you actually work on the bank holiday makes no difference to the entiltlement as you are being paid for that work in the first instance and covered under the 7 days roster that you probably have in your contract.


Just to say where I'm coming from - we had about 40 staff. All are on 7 day rosters, one troublesome staff tried to claim all sort of "rights" and sent complaint to NERA (about 5 years ago). It was similar to this in that she worked about 15 hours a week and claimed she was entitled to a full 8 hours extra for every bank holiday whereas we were paying her 3 hours extra as her average work week was 2/5ths of a week. NERA investigated and confirmed that our contracts and payments of holiday and bank holiday was 100% correct and that our contracts were clear and concise and adhered to all relevant legislation.

As the staff member was only with us 10 months we found she was "unsuitable for the role in which she was employed for" and let her go.

nosilver

_Brian wrote: »

I can add that I worked shifts before. If I worked a 12 hour on the BH I got that in lieu, if it was 8 hours I got that in lieu.

An employer can give you whatever they wish once it meets the minimum required.

jimmycrackcorm

cml387 wrote:

We have that situation. The Bank holiday is counted as 8 hours. Not 12 hours. So your employer is right in offering you 8 hours in lieu.

nosilver wrote:

An employer can give you whatever they wish once it meets the minimum required.

Again, the op had a written contract that says hours in lieu are due. The employer can't legally break that.

OP, is suggest showing a copy to your employer as it seems they may not be aware that this is what you have.

Ultimately if you left in the future you can remind them that you would then be able to go to the wrc about it and they'd have no leg to stand on.

The only option for them is to get a contract change agreed.

Wanderer2010

nosilver wrote: »

As the staff member was only with us 10 months we found she was "unsuitable for the role in which she was employed for" and let her go.

So you basically fired her because you didn't like her asking questions about her employment rights? Was she a good worker or not?

infogiver

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

So you basically fired her because you didn't like her asking questions about her employment rights? Was she a good worker or not?

No she was fired because she was unsuitable for the position.
She didn't ask questions, she made a formal complaint to NERA which was costly and time consuming for her employer.
If she had asked questions about her employment by making a simple phone call to NERA before lodging the complaint then they would have confirmed that her statutory rights as an employee were not being infringed on.
But because she was a trouble maker she didn't and just jumped right in.

RichRooskey

Hi all,

If Im reading this chat correctly am I correct in thinking that if staff who work shifts are entitled to an additional day off or payment for bank holidays regardless if they are not rostered to work or not in that bank Holiday?.

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118250869#Comment_118250869

If the public holiday falls on a day that you are not rostered to work then you are entitled to 1/5 of your weekly wage on top of your wages for that day.