Employment Law and Holidays: What are Workers’ Rights to Time Off?
Working Time Regulations give all workers the right to paid holidays, irrespective of the hours they work. However, the definition of worker is wider than ‘employees’ and may in fact cover more people than you think. Casual, part-time and even agency workers are included in this description, including people you may label self-employed, for example if they perform work personally and the relationship isn’t a client/customer one (i.e. if they are not genuinely self-employed). Some sectors aren’t covered by Working Time Regulations, but unless you’re a seafaring business or work in civil aviation, I’m afraid you’re going to have to keep reading. So let’s start with entitlements. Each employee is entitled to 5.6 weeks’ paid holiday pro-rata (that’s 28... »