How the new employee holiday entitlement laws will affect you

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Article source: http://www.articledeshboard.com/. Used with author's permission.

I've heard a lot of misconceptions about what the new UK employee holiday entitlement laws will involve, so here I shall do my best to explain who is affected, and what the changes to the law mean for businesses.

Firstly, before you (or your employees) jump for joy, it should be pointed out that the laws, which increase the number of paid statutory holidays employees are entitled to from 20 to 24, are unlikely to be of much benefit to the majority of business workers. This is because the changes to the holiday entitlement law are mainly to tie up the loophole that some employers were using which meant that the 8 annual UK public holidays could come out of employee's paid holiday allowance. In 2009, the number is due to increase to 28 days to allow the standard 20 days minimum holiday entitlement in addition to the 8 public holidays for all workers in the UK.

So the good news for employers is that, unless you've been scrimping on paid holiday entitlement anyway, you won't need to change the way you operate. So who will it affect? Well according to the Employment relations minister, around six million workers. But where are they all?

Well, the majority of the workers affected are likely to be found in sectors which are required to work bank holidays, namely hospitality, retail and service industries. Basically, the change to minimum holiday entitlement means that anyone who is currently failing to get the minimum 24 days (including bank holidays) will be given four more to play with by law, while those who already get 24 or more will see no change to their holiday entitlement, in all likelihood.

I've heard a lot of workers are excited about the changes to the employee holiday entitlement law, because of the commonly accepted urban myth that workers are guaranteed public holidays on top of their 20 day statutory paid holiday allowance. The truth is that there is nothing in the law about this, and employers who previously did give their workers additional bank holiday entitlement were either doing it as an act of good will, or were unaware that the law would have protected them until the 1st October. It's great news for those estimated six million who currently don't get much holiday, but the majority of the country is unaffected.

Iain Mackintosh is the managing director of Simply-Docs (www.simply-docs.co.uk). The firm provides over 1100 legal documents and templates covering all aspects of business from the new holiday entitlement laws to health and safety regulations. By providing these legal documents (with content provided by leading commercial lawyers, HR and health & safety consultants) at an affordable price, the company intends to help small businesses avoid costly breaches of regulation and legal action.

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