Aroundtown Magazine November/December 2022 Edition

LEGAL
Legal
talk
With Elmhirst Parker Solicitors
Your working rights
over Christmas
Santa and his elves won’t be the
only ones busy working over the
festive period.
While some of us look forward to some
downtime at Christmas, for millions of people it
is business as usual. Workers in retail, hospitality
and emergency services will be clocking in to
keep essential services running.
But if you’re on the rota to work over the
Christmas period, what are your legal rights?
Bank Holidays
All workers are entitled to a statutory 5.6 weeks
of annual leave per year. This is often split into four
weeks or 20 days of leave plus eight days for the
bank holidays. This reduces pro-rata for part-time
or seasonal workers.
However, there is no legal requirement for
staff to automatically be off on a bank holiday if a
business is remaining open.
This year, Christmas and New Year’s Day fall
on Sundays so the bank holiday dates will be
Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th December, plus
Monday 2nd January. If these are your normal
working days, and your employer opens for
business, then you are likely to be contractually
obliged to work.
Retail staff who work in a shop larger than
280 square metres are legally entitled to have
Christmas Day off under the Christmas Day
(Trading) Act 2004. In recent years, many
larger retailers have chosen to close at 4pm on
Christmas Eve and reopen again after Boxing Day
to give staff a longer break.
Annual Leave Requests
Some employers have a Christmas shutdown
period where all staff are required to use their
annual leave to cover those days. On the other
hand, many employees might request the same
days off over the holidays.
Depending on the size of the workforce, it may
be impossible to accommodate all conflicting
requests and employers might implement a
first-come-first-served policy for requesting
annual leave.
You should give twice the amount of notice
than the number of days off you are requesting.
For example, if you want a week off, you should
give at least two weeks’ notice. It may be wise to
submit your Christmas annual leave requests early
to ensure you are at the top of the pile.
Hours and Overtime
Employees can work a maximum of 48 hours
each week unless they opt out of the limit. Staff
are legally entitled to have at least 11 hours of
uninterrupted rest between shifts and in seven
days, workers must have one period of at least
24 hours’ rest.
Over the busy Christmas period with the
addition of a reduced workforce, this can
impact the frequency of shifts, late finishes and
early starts.
Remember that overtime is voluntary; you
are not obligated to agree to work beyond your
contracted hours. If employees do work overtime,
there is no automatic legal right to increased
rate of pay for the extra hours worked. Some
employers might offer time off in lieu (TOIL)
instead of extra pay. If an employer does offer
increased overtime pay, part-time workers are not
entitled to this until they have worked more than
the normal average hours of full-time staff.
Christmas Bonuses
There is no legal entitlement to a Christmas
bonus unless it is written in an employment
contract. That said, if you have been regularly
receiving a Christmas bonus over a period of time,
or even something like a gift card or hamper, and
your employer chooses not to do so anymore, you
may be able to argue it has become a contractual
right by reason of custom and practice.
Aside from bonuses, all staff over the age of
23 are legally entitled to the National Living Wage
which is £9.50 an hour. Workers aged between
16-23 are entitled to the National Minimum Wage
which increases with age.
There are exemptions to the law, including
family members working for a family-owned
business, trainees on government funded
schemes, students on higher education
placements, and the self-employed.
Check your contract – twice
If you are unsure about anything relating
to your employment, check your contract.
The terms of contract should set out employment
conditions such as rate of pay, contracted
hours and days, holiday entitlement, length
of employment (particularly for temporary or
seasonal workers), any probationary period,
and mandatory training.
You should also have information about
what procedures your employer has in place for
grievances or disciplinary action.
*This is not legal advice; it is intended to provide
information of general interest about current legal
issues.
• Civil litigation
• Residential conveyancing
• Family and matrimonial
• Probate and estates
• Wills • Lifetime planning
Speak to one of our experts on
01226 282238
17/19 Regent Street, Barnsley, S70 2HP
(also in Royston, Selby and Sherburn-in-Elmet)
www.elmhirstparker.com
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