FIGURING OUT

Calculations

Managing employees can be challenging, especially without in-house HR. This is the first of a four-part series on the HR topics that Members enquire about most often. First up, annual leave calculations.

Paid annual leave is a legal right for most employees, so it’s important you get it right first time, says NHBF director of membership Tina Beaumont-Goddard. ‘It’s not unusual for holiday calculations and pay to be brought up as a grievance when an employee moves on or when you are going through the dismissal process. Employment legislation can be complex, which is why the NHBF membership team and HR experts are on hand.’

Different employment contracts

Most salons employ people on full-time and part-time contracts, says Laura Williams, head of team and solicitor at Worknest.

‘All employees and workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks of annual leave a year,’ she says. ‘This equates to 20 days plus eight bank holidays for full-time staff. A full week of pay should be given for one week of annual leave, including an average of any commission payments normally received over the previous 52 weeks.’

To calculate holiday entitlement where you are offering the statutory minimum, Laura says the simplest way is to use 5.6 weeks as a multiplier. ‘For example, for someone working five days a week, you multiply 5 by 5.6 to get 28 days, which includes bank holidays.’

If you have a part-time staff member who works three days a week, the same number of hours each day (for example, 9am–4pm), you can multiply three by 5.6 to give you their total annual leave entitlement, including bank holidays. ‘You then round up to the nearest half day – in this case, 17 days,’ says Laura.

If a part-time staff member works different hours each day, the most accurate way to calculate their annual leave entitlement is in hours. ‘You would multiply the number of hours they work by 5.6 weeks,’ Laura explains. ‘The employee can request the appropriate number of hours as holiday that they would work on that particular day.’

For information on zero-hours contracts, contact the legal helpline or NHBF membership team.

Bank holidays

Members often have questions about how many bank holidays part-time staff are entitled to – for example, how to pro rata bank holidays if someone doesn’t work on Mondays.

Laura says not to get confused. ‘Make sure bank holidays are included with annual leave when doing your pro rata calculations. Don’t separate them.’

From their total holiday entitlement, a part-time employee will only have a day of holiday deducted for a bank holiday if it falls on one of their normal working days. They can otherwise take their holiday entitlement at other times.

Preparing For The Extra Bank Holiday 2023

● Look at the holiday clause in your employment contract. If it’s worded generally to say ‘staff are entitled to 20 days plus any UK bank holidays’, that includes a paid day off for the extra holiday. If it says ‘the normal UK bank holidays’ or specifically lists the bank holidays, the extra holiday won’t be included.

● If the extra holiday is not included, you must decide what to do. You could close the salon and give staff the day off with paid leave, give them time off in lieu, or ask them to use a day of their annual leave entitlement to cover the extra day.

● To give staff notice to take paid holiday, you need to give them double the amount of notice of the time you want them to take. For the bank holiday, it will be two days.

● Go to nhbf.co.uk/coronation

Remember, there’s an extra bank holiday this year for the Coronation (see Preparing for the extra bank holiday 2023).

Maternity leave

When someone is on maternity leave, their annual leave accrues as normal, including bank holidays. They’re free to use this when they return, and it rolls over to the next holiday year.

Sick leave

If someone falls ill when they have a booked holiday, they must notify their manager straight away. Their employer can then record their absence as sick leave and put them on sick pay, so they can use their remaining period of booked holiday another time.

‘Most employers will make it clear in their policies that staff have to call each day to let them know how they are feeling while they are off sick,’ says Laura. If someone is on long-term sickness, the employer can ask

Make

Quick facts

● New employees are entitled to annual leave, including while on probation, but entitlement will be limited to what accrues each month in their first year.

● Employees cannot be asked to take annual leave on days you are normally closed.

if they want to use their annual leave, as their holiday will be accruing. They will then get their full pay for those days that are booked as holiday, and sick leave will continue afterwards.

When someone resigns

An employer can only pay a staff member in lieu of holiday when their employment ends.

‘Salons often say current employees don’t want to use their remaining holiday and are asking whether they can pay them for those days,’ says Laura. ‘The only time you can do this is if someone resigns or is dismissed from their job.’

To work out what staff are entitled to when they leave, you need to look at what their last date of employment is, then pro rata their holiday and calculate how many days they have left. You then pay in lieu of those days as part of their final payment.

● Call our free legal helpline for hair and beauty employment and HR issues, open 24/7, 365 days a year. See nhbf.co.uk/legal-support

Resources

● NHBF blog – Holiday entitlement for salon and barbershop employees: nhbf.co.uk/holiday

● NHBF blog – What rights do your salon or barbershop employees have? nhbf.co.uk/employee-rights

● NHBF blog – From sick leave to annual leave: handling staff absence in your salon or barbershop: nhbf.co.uk/absence