Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday

By Louise Walker, Associate Director

This year, the late May bank holiday weekend will be moved to Thursday 2 June with an additional bank holiday being announced for Friday 3 June to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

In advance of this date, many organisations will be wondering whether they need to grant staff an additional paid holiday.

The legal position is that there is no automatic entitlement for an employee to take leave on 3 June 2022 simply because it has been announced as a public holiday. Whether or not an employee will be entitled to take an additional paid holiday on this date will depend on the specific wording of their contract of employment.

If the contract of employment specifies particular days that will be granted by the employer as public holidays, then it is unlikely that the employer will be obliged to grant the additional Platinum Jubilee day. However, a contract of employment that entitles employees in more general terms to all recognised public holidays may well provide a basis for employees to be entitled to this additional holiday.

Of course, the contents of holiday entitlement clauses in contracts of employment are many and varied, therefore employers should take advice upon the documents which apply to them.

Employers whose employees are entitled to the Platinum Jubilee public holiday, and who are concerned that their operations may be adversely affected, may wish to negotiate with their employees over alternative arrangements such as granting a day’s holiday in lieu to be taken at another time or paying a public holiday premium to employees who are required to work on that day. Employers who must recognise the Platinum Jubilee holiday but do expect their employees to work on that day should make sure they do have the contractual right to require their employees to work on a public holiday.

Employers whose employees are not entitled to the additional holiday may allow employees to apply for annual leave on this date. It is recommended that employees are encouraged to apply early to have annual leave authorised given that it is likely that more employees than usual may wish to take this date as annual leave, especially given that some schools may be closed.

If you have any questions regarding this update, or if you require support or advice on any other employment law matters, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0141 331 5150 or [email protected].