Can You Make an Employee Work on a Public Holiday?

If a public holiday is coming up and you still need staff on the rota, the first question is usually simple: can you make an employee work on a public holiday? In the UK, the answer is often yes, but not automatically and not in every situation. Businesses get into trouble when they assume bank holidays are always optional, always mandatory, or always covered by a generic line in the contract.

Common mistakes include relying on verbal arrangements, forgetting to check what the employment contract actually says, and treating part time staff less favourably when calculating holiday entitlement. Another frequent problem is confusing a right to paid annual leave with a right to take a particular bank holiday off.

This guide explains what UK employers need to check before asking staff to work on a public holiday, when a refusal may be lawful, how contracts and workplace policies affect the position, and the practical steps to take before you sign off a rota or discipline an employee.

Overview

In the UK, there is no general rule that every employee must get every public holiday off. Whether you can require work on a public holiday usually depends on the employment contract, working time rights, discrimination risks, and whether your approach is reasonable in the circumstances.

• Check whether the employment contract says the employee may be required to work on bank or public holidays.
• Confirm how annual leave entitlement is worded, especially whether bank holidays are included in the statutory minimum or given in addition.
• Make sure shift requirements do not breach Working Time Regulations rules on rest breaks, daily rest and weekly rest.
• Consider religious discrimination and indirect discrimination risks if the holiday overlaps with a significant religious observance.
• Apply the same approach consistently across comparable staff, including part time workers.
• Do not rely on custom or assumption if your contracts and staff handbook say different things.
• Before you discipline someone for refusing to work, check whether they had a contractual right to the day off or a legitimate legal objection.

What Can You Make an Employee Work on a Public Holiday Means For UK Businesses

For most UK businesses, you can require an employee to work on a public holiday if their contract allows it and you manage the issue fairly.

That is the practical starting point. Public holidays matter commercially for hospitality venues, retailers, logistics businesses, healthcare providers, manufacturers and customer support teams. But there is no universal legal rule that public holidays are automatically non working days for all staff.

There is no standalone right to take every public holiday off

Employees in the UK are entitled to statutory paid annual leave, usually 5.6 weeks for a full time worker. That does not mean they have a separate legal right to be absent on every bank or public holiday.

An employer can count public holidays towards the employee's statutory annual leave entitlement, as long as the worker still receives at least the minimum leave they are entitled to overall. Some employers offer more generous contractual leave and say bank holidays are additional. Others say the total entitlement includes bank holidays.

This is why the wording matters. If your contract says, for example, "28 days including bank holidays", the employee may not have a right to every public holiday off. If it says "20 days plus bank holidays", the position may be different.

The contract usually decides whether work can be required

The safest answer to can you make an employee work on a public holiday is usually found in the employment contract before you sign or before you hire your first worker.

Many contracts say the employee's normal working days may include bank holidays, or that the business may require work on public holidays depending on operational needs. If that clause is clear, an employer is in a much stronger position when rostering staff in.

If the contract says the employee will not work on public holidays, or if long standing practice has consistently treated those days as guaranteed leave, you should be cautious. Forcing attendance in those circumstances can lead to grievances, wage disputes, breach of contract arguments, or unfair treatment complaints.

Custom and practice can also matter

Even where a contract is not perfectly drafted, the way your business has operated over time may influence expectations. If staff have always been given Christmas Day or other public holidays off without exception, that pattern can create practical and sometimes legal difficulties if you suddenly reverse it.

This does not mean every informal practice becomes a binding contractual term, but it is where founders often get caught. A business changes opening hours, new management takes over, or costs increase, and the team is told they now have to work days that were previously treated as leave.

Before you rely on a broad management right, check whether your historic practice points in another direction.

Refusal to work is not always misconduct

You should not assume that an employee who refuses to work on a public holiday is automatically being unreasonable.

The refusal could be based on a contractual right, an approved leave request, a childcare issue, a religious observance, a health condition, or a working time concern. If you jump straight to disciplinary action without checking the facts, the main risk is turning a rota problem into an employment dispute.

For example, if an employee has not agreed to work bank holidays and their contract is silent or unclear, the position may need discussion rather than instruction. If the holiday request relates to religion, an inflexible requirement to work could also raise discrimination issues unless you can justify it.

Pay on public holidays depends on the contract and policy

There is no general legal rule that employees must be paid extra simply because they work on a bank or public holiday.

Many businesses do offer enhanced pay, time off in lieu, or a special rota arrangement because it helps with recruitment, retention and morale. But unless an employment contract, collective arrangement or policy says enhanced pay applies, there may be no automatic right to it.

That said, if your documents promise double pay, overtime rates, or time off in lieu for public holiday work, you should honour that. Changing those arrangements without consultation can create contract and employee relations issues.

Legal Issues To Check Before You Sign

Before you sign a contract, approve a handbook or require staff to work a public holiday, make sure the legal wording matches how the business actually operates.

Many problems can be avoided with clear drafting. If your business trades on bank holidays, say so. If staff may be rostered to work some public holidays but not others, say that too.

1. Employment contract wording

The contract should deal with both working days and annual leave entitlement. Vague wording creates arguments later.

Clauses usually need to cover:

• whether normal working hours can include bank or public holidays
• whether the business can require additional shifts on those dates
• how annual leave is calculated
• whether bank holidays are included within total leave or granted in addition
• whether enhanced pay or time off in lieu applies
• whether shift patterns may change on reasonable notice

Before you accept the provider's standard terms or a downloaded template, check that the leave wording does not contradict the hours of work clause. That inconsistency is common and causes avoidable disputes.

2. Working Time Regulations

Even if the contract allows public holiday work, employees still have rights under working time law.

You should check:

• daily rest, usually 11 consecutive hours in each 24 hour period
• rest breaks during shifts, where applicable
• weekly rest requirements
• the 48 hour average weekly working time limit, unless the employee has validly opted out
• night work rules, if your public holiday cover includes overnight shifts

This matters in founder-led businesses where holiday cover is arranged informally and the same trusted staff keep being asked to do extra shifts. A public holiday rota that looks manageable on paper can breach rest rules once you factor in the surrounding week.

3. Part time worker treatment

Part time staff should not be treated less favourably than comparable full time staff without justification.

A classic mistake is giving all full time staff paid bank holidays off while part time staff receive no equivalent benefit, particularly where part time workers do not normally work on Mondays and therefore miss out on most bank holidays. Holiday entitlements should generally be pro rated fairly so part time workers are not disadvantaged.

If your business uses fixed shift days, check the maths and the policy wording carefully before you publish leave rules.

4. Discrimination risks

A requirement to work on a public holiday can become a discrimination issue depending on the facts.

Religion or belief is a common area. Not every public holiday has a religious significance for every employee, but some work requirements may clash with important observance days. If you apply a blanket rule that everyone must work, you may need to show the rule is a proportionate way of meeting a legitimate business need.

Other protected characteristics can also be relevant. For example, a rigid public holiday rota could affect disabled employees, staff with pregnancy related needs, or workers with caring responsibilities, depending on the circumstances. Consistency matters, but so does sensible flexibility.

5. Family friendly and practical issues

Not every objection is a legal right to refuse, but practical barriers still need sensible handling.

School closures, childcare arrangements and travel disruption often hit harder on public holidays. A small business may still need cover, but an employer who refuses to discuss alternatives can damage morale quickly. Shift swaps, advance notice, volunteer systems and time off in lieu can reduce friction.

These are management tools rather than strict legal obligations, but they often stop disputes before they start.

6. Disciplinary action and consultation

Before you discipline someone for not working a public holiday, check the legal basis carefully.

Ask:

• did the contract clearly require attendance
• was reasonable notice given
• did the employee have approved leave
• is there a discrimination or health issue in play
• have other staff in similar situations been treated the same way
• is informal resolution more appropriate than formal action

If your business is changing a long standing arrangement, consultation may also be needed. A change to guaranteed public holiday leave may amount to a contractual variation, and trying to impose it unilaterally can create bigger employment risks.

Common Mistakes With Can You Make an Employee Work on a Public Holiday

The biggest mistake is assuming business need automatically overrides the contract.

That assumption often appears when a busy period approaches and managers are focused on staffing, not paperwork. Here are the issues that most commonly cause trouble for SMEs.

Using unclear contracts

If your contract just says the employee works "Monday to Friday" and says nothing about bank holidays, you may struggle to insist on attendance where a public holiday falls on one of those days. Ambiguous drafting leaves room for disagreement.

Clear drafting is much cheaper than dealing with a grievance later.

Confusing holiday entitlement with a day off right

Some employers think statutory annual leave means every bank holiday must be given as additional leave. Others think the opposite and assume no special rules apply at all. Both approaches can miss the contractual wording.

The right question is not simply how much leave the worker gets overall. It is also how the contract allocates public holidays within that entitlement.

Offering enhanced pay informally and then withdrawing it

It is common in growing businesses for managers to promise "double time on bank holidays" without updating contracts or payroll rules. Later, the business tries to remove the enhancement because margins are tight.

If employees have regularly received that benefit and been encouraged to rely on it, removing it without consultation can trigger disputes. Before you rely on a verbal promise or an old rota habit, check what has actually been communicated and paid over time.

Ignoring discrimination concerns

A one size fits all instruction can create unnecessary legal risk.

Suppose two employees ask not to work a public holiday, one for a family event and one for a religious observance. You may not need to grant every request, but treating all objections as interchangeable can be a mistake. Some requests require a more careful justification exercise than others.

Getting part time leave calculations wrong

This is where founders often get caught. A policy that sounds neutral can unfairly reduce the practical leave value for part time staff.

For example, if only workers scheduled on a bank holiday Monday receive paid leave for that day, employees who work Tuesdays and Wednesdays may lose out unless your wider holiday calculation balances that properly. The solution is usually a pro rated annual leave method that treats bank holiday value fairly across patterns.

Changing the rules without consultation

If your business has always closed on certain public holidays and staff have arranged their lives around that, changing the arrangement may require consultation and contract review.

Even where the contract gives some flexibility, a sudden shift in practice can damage trust. Give notice, explain the business reason, and document the new arrangement properly.

Disciplining too quickly

If an employee does not turn up on a public holiday, frustration can push managers into formal action too early.

Pause and verify the basics first:

• what the contract says
• what the rota and notice records show
• whether leave was approved
• whether any discrimination, disability or family related issue was raised
• whether previous practice supports the employee's understanding

A rushed misconduct process can become much more expensive than one missed shift.

FAQs

Do employees in the UK have a legal right to bank holidays off?

No. There is no automatic general right to have bank or public holidays off work. The position usually depends on the employment contract, holiday entitlement wording and workplace arrangements.

Do you have to pay extra for working on a public holiday?

Not necessarily. Extra pay is not automatically required by law just because the employee works on a public holiday. Enhanced pay or time off in lieu usually depends on the contract, policy or established practice.

Can an employee refuse to work on a public holiday?

Sometimes. They may be able to refuse if their contract does not require it, if they have approved leave, or if there is another legal issue such as discrimination, health or working time concerns. Do not assume refusal is misconduct without checking the facts.

Can bank holidays be included in statutory annual leave?

Yes. Employers can count bank holidays towards the worker's statutory annual leave entitlement, provided the employee still receives at least their full minimum leave entitlement overall and the contract supports that approach.

What should a small business put in the contract?

The contract should clearly state whether staff may be required to work public holidays, how annual leave is calculated, whether bank holidays are included or additional, and whether enhanced pay or time off in lieu applies.

Key Takeaways

• In the UK, you can often require an employee to work on a public holiday, but usually only if the contract and surrounding circumstances support that.
• Employees do not automatically have a legal right to every public holiday off, although they do have statutory annual leave rights.
• The contract should clearly cover public holiday working, annual leave calculation, and any enhanced pay or time off in lieu arrangements.
• Working time rules, discrimination law, part time worker protections and long standing workplace practice can all affect whether a requirement is lawful and sensible.
• Before you discipline an employee for refusing to work a public holiday, check the contract, notice given, approved leave status and any protected reason for the refusal.
• Clear drafting and consistent policy wording help prevent disputes before busy holiday periods arrive.

If you want help with employment contracts, annual leave wording, public holiday policies, discrimination risk checks, you can reach us on 08081347754 or team@sprintlaw.co.uk for a free, no-obligations chat.