Royal wedding day
LRA Guidance
With the news that the Royal wedding on Friday 29 April 2011 is to be marked by a public holiday, employers might be wondering whether they have a legal obligation to give employees the day off.
The simple answer is that it depends on the terms and conditions set out in each employee’s contract of employment.
As an employer, unless it is a term of the employee’s contract of employment, you do not have to give staff paid time off for bank and public holidays.
However, if you allow a worker time off for bank and public holidays over a significant period of time, it may become an implied term of their contract via custom and practice, ie the term is not actually written into the contract but is still part of it.
You also need to be aware that part-time staff have the same entitlement to leave as full-time workers. Therefore, if full-time staff are given paid leave for bank and public holidays, part-time workers should also receive this benefit on a pro-rata basis.
