In November last year, the Culture Secretary announced plans to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with a four-day weekend in June 2022, moving the second May Bank Holiday Monday (30^th May) to Thursday 2^nd June and an additional Bank Holiday on Friday 3^rd June. Many employers are concerned of the impact on their day-to-day business, as well as being unaware of their options when it comes to allowing employees to take an extra day’s holiday. Whether your business usually remains open or closes on bank holidays – the key is to refer to your contracts. In this article by Debbie Mosley, Owner at Dêmos HR Solutions, she explains how employers can manage the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee extra bank holiday.

Examine your contracts

For businesses that normally close on bank holidays, employees should not automatically expect the day off on Friday 3^rd June – it is of the utmost importance to check your contracts for wording that you have used to determine whether employees are legally entitled to the extra bank holiday. Normally employee contracts will say one of three things when it comes to annual leave and bank holidays:

1. Your contracts may state the number of days (most commonly 20 days) plus bank holidays – in this case employees will be entitled to the additional platinum jubilee bank holiday.




2. If your employee contracts state the number of days annual leave staff are entitled to (for example 28 days) inclusive of bank holidays, it will be up to you as the employer whether to allow the extra bank holiday on Friday 3^rd June, given that it is not specifically included in the number stated.




3. If the words “plus usual bank holidays” are included in your employment contracts, again it will be up to the employer whether to give Friday 3^rd June as a free day off given that this date isn’t a “usual” bank holiday.

If your contracts do not automatically allow the extra bank holiday, decide whether you will gift the day off on Friday 3^rd June – bear in mind the impact on part time workers – see below.

For businesses that normally remain open on bank holidays, the most common type of contract wording would include the words “inclusive of bank holidays” in addition the number of days annual leave staff are entitled to (for example 28 days). Again, it will be up to you as the employer whether to allow the extra bank holiday on Friday 3^rd June. Also consider the following:

• Communicate whether employees will be expected to work on Friday 3^rd June as a normal working day, or whether you will gift the day off to your employees, or gift them an additional day off to take throughout the year.

• Do your employees receive a higher rate of pay on bank holidays? What impact will this have on your wages in June if staff will be required to work this day?

Employees working part time or on maternity leave

You will need to also examine your contracts for part time workers that you employ, and the same rules will apply as above. However, the same way that Monday bank holidays may require the adjustment of annual leave for part time staff that do not work on Mondays as part of their contractual hours, bear in mind that part time staff that do not normally work on Thursdays or Fridays will also need their holiday entitlement to be adjusted on a pro-rata basis.

As employees on maternity or shared parental leave will continue to accrue annual leave, again you will need to examine their contract to calculate their entitlement with the accrued leave.

Where you have a combination of full time and part time workers, you may want to consider taking a blanket approach by gifting your employees the extra bank holiday on Friday 3^rd June, to minimise the impact on business administration (unless this could affect your bottom line in the long run – in which case it is recommended that you seek advice from your leadership support personnel).

As always, communication is key!

It would be advisable to liaise with your HR Manager or Consultant and agree an approach taking into consideration your options when it comes to the extra bank holiday for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee weekend, depending on your contracts and whether your company normally shuts down for bank holidays or is usually open for business.

Whatever you decide to do as an employer when it comes to the extra bank holiday this year, ensure you provide enough notice to your workforce with either a generic communication such as an internal staff newsletter, or, if contracts differ within your organisation, you may wish to write individually to each employee.

Also, take into consideration staff morale – following the turbulence and uncertainty within the UK workforce over the past two years due to Coronavirus, it may just be worth considering the possibility of giving staff the opportunity of a four-day weekend, and partaking in the unique celebration of our Queen’s 75-year reign.

Here to help -

Debbie and the team at Dêmos HR Solutions are available to support employers to manage the extra bank holiday weekend this year, from contractual audits through to bespoke employee communications. Please get in touch with Debbie directly on 07974 695 365, or email hello@demoshr.co.uk Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter for professional advice and top tips.