Sponsored feature | Andrew Buckley, partner, Woodfines Solicitors
In November 2021, the government announced the UK would enjoy an additional bank holiday to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The additional bank holiday will be on Friday, June 3 and – as the late May bank holiday has been moved to Thursday, June 2, many in the UK will enjoy a four-day weekend.
In April 2022, it was reported that the CBI, UK Hospitality and other well-known brands are calling for the additional bank holiday to be made permanent. In similar vein, in the run up to the 2019 General Election, the Labour Party announced that if elected, they would introduce a further four bank holidays a year – St David’s Day (March 1), St Patrick’s Day (March 17), St George’s Day (April 23) and St Andrew’s Day (November 20).
Employers and employees alike may wonder whether all employees are entitled to any additional bank holiday(s), whether permanent or one-off. The answer: not necessarily…
The law on annual leave is contained in the Working Time Regulations 1998. Regulations 13 and 13A of the WTR provide that workers (a wider category of people than employees) are entitled to 5.6 weeks of annual leave each year. For people that work five days a week, this means they are entitled to 28 days of annual leave each year.
The law does not entitle employees or workers to take leave on bank holidays in addition to their WTR entitlement. Consequently, the question of whether an individual is entitled to leave...
President Lee Jae-myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at Cheong Wa Dae on October 13. President Lee Jae-myung called for a stern response to the spread of false information regarding eggs rece...