It has been announced that Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral will take place at 11.00am on Monday 19 September 2022. However, workers do not automatically have the right to the day off work.
Whether or not staff are entitled to the day off will depend on the wording of their employment contract. Contrary to popular belief, there is no statutory right to paid time off for bank holidays, but many employers do include bank holidays as part of a worker’s annual leave entitlement.
Where the employment contract entitle staff to take leave on “all bank and public holidays” employees will be entitled to the day off. However, some contracts might instead say that staff are entitled to “the usual eight bank and public holidays”, in which case they would not necessarily have an automatic right to paid time off, as the Queen’s funeral is an additional bank holiday, over and above the usual 8 bank holidays recognised in England.
If the employment contract does not allow workers to take all bank and public holidays as leave then an employer can require them to work on the day of Her Majesty’s funeral in the usual way. There is no right to additional paid time off in lieu.
Employers will need to carefully consider how they approach the additional bank holiday that has been announced, and should also be mindful that there may be a further bank holiday declared for the coronation of King Charles III.
Even if the wording of the employment contract means that staff do not have the right to take the time off as a bank holiday, they may still choose to submit a holiday request to have the day off as annual leave. Government guidance states “the bank holiday will be a unique national moment and we would encourage employers to respond sensitively to request from workers who wish to take time off” and therefore it would appear that there is an expectation that holiday requests should be granted if possible, subject to operational requirements.
If employers do allow staff to have the day off they should make clear that this is an exceptional discretionary measure as a mark of respect for the sad passing of Queen Elizabeth in order to avoid employees claiming that they have an entitlement to any other additional bank holidays that may be granted in the future.
If you are unsure about the right to time off work for you or your staff, please contact a member of the Employment Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.