EAT rules Bank Holiday benefit is not universal

Employers who do not give part-time staff extra time off in respect of Bank Holidays will be heartened by an Employment Appeal Tribunal decision last week.

In the case of McMenemy v Capita Business Services, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered whether part-time employees who do not work on Mondays were entitled to a pro rata allocation of extra time off in respect of Monday Bank Holidays.

Four of the UK’s eight statutory holidays always fall on a Monday (Easter Monday, May Day, and the spring and August Bank Holidays).

The claimant worked Wednesday to Friday with the employer, Capita Business Services, which operates seven days a week. The original tribunal found that although the claimant was suffering a detriment, it was not because he worked part-time but because he did not work on Monday.

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The claimant appealed, but the EAT agreed with the original decision.

Daniel Barnett, an employment lawyer at 1 Temple Gardens, said: “It remains to be seen whether the same approach would be taken with a five-day-a-week, rather than seven-day-a-week business, where all full-time workers receive the benefit of Bank Holidays.”