Should I have to repay bank holidays due to sick leave?

I work long weekends and receive pro rata bank holidays. Unfortunately, I was off on long-term sick leave earlier this year which covered a period of three bank holidays. These were subsequently taken off me and I have been in discussions about my employer about this and other withdrawn holidays since. I do not work bank holidays. If I worked the bank holidays as part of my shift, I would, by default, be paid for them even while on sick leave [as other staff are] although I appreciate that I would be deemed as having had the actual day off. I have been neither paid, nor received the time off and, as I see it, they have gained a financial advantage by taking these holidays off me. What are my rights?

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The employee’s entitlement will depend on whether or not the bank holiday forms part her statutory holiday entitlement. If it is in your contract that bank holidays are part of annual leave entitlement then you will be entitled to be paid them (if you worked them or was sick leave on them). It would also depend if she gets paid sick pay, which I assume you do.

This means that where an employee is on approved sickness absence during a bank holiday that forms part of their minimum holiday entitlement, the employer should allow them to take a day off in lieu.

However, if the employer grants paid time off on bank holidays, in addition to the statutory minimum, the employee’s potential right to a compensatory day off or pay in lieu in respect of a bank holiday will depend on the terms of the contract of employment or any policy that forms part of the contract.

However, there is no law that requires employers to grant employees paid leave on any public or bank holiday.

You will therefore need to check your contract/ policy to determine if it should be paid or not.