Bank holidays and part-timers

I am a part-time worker. My weekly contract is 25.5 hours. I work Mondays 9.5 hours, Wednesday 6.5 hours and Friday 9.5 hours. My holidays are calculated at 5.6 X 25.5 = 142.8 which includes bank holidays. So to allow for my bank holidays I have to put 76 hours (8 X 9.5)to one side which only leaves me with 66.8 hours left to take at my choice during the year. One of my colleagues works 25.5 hours per week but her Mondays are only 5.5 hours. She has to put to 44 hours( 5.5 X 8) leaving her with 98.8 hours left to take during the year. When the business is opened on bank holidays the trading hours are a maximum of 7.5 and I don’t have to pay back the extra two hours. The bank holidays are given on a first come first serve basis so I am restricted to how many I can work. It seems unfair that even though we are both on 25.5 hours my colleague is left with almost 4 X 25.5 weeks off at her choice, but I am only left with 2.6 X 25.5 weeks off at my own choice. Should the bank holidays not be pro rata’d on what hours we have to give back if we don’t work the bank holiday to take into account the different hours on the different days?

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Part-time employees should not be treated less favourably than full-time employees. Your holiday should therefore be treated in the same way as a full-time employee, except of course that entitlement is pro rata. I have assumed that full-time employees are required to set aside 8 x 9.5 hours for bank holidays. You are not therefore being treated less favourably than a full-time employee. Treating two part-time employees differently might be unfair but is not unlawful.

It seems odd, however, that you are asked to set aside 8 x 9.5 hours for bank holidays when not all bank holidays are on Mondays. Whilst it is true that Mondays dominate, Good Friday is never on a Monday and Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day are not necessarily on a Monday. In 2017, only 6 of the 8 Bank holidays are on Monday. You should point this out and ask for your holiday to be recalculated based on the number of hours you would work on the days that are Bank Holidays.