To mark the Queen’s 60 years on the throne there will be an additional ‘special’ bank holiday date on Monday 4th June 2012. Furthermore, the traditional late spring bank holiday will also be delayed until Tuesday June 5 to give the country a four-day break.

What does this mean for employees?

• If an extra bank holiday is announced to mark a particular occasion, whether or not employees are entitled to an additional day’s holiday will depend on the wording of the employment contract. Employees do not have an automatic right to paid time off on a bank holiday.

• If the employment contract states that the employee’s annual leave entitlement is a certain number of days plus bank holidays, they will be entitled to the additional day off.

• If the contract states that the entitlement is to a certain number of days, and is silent on the issue of bank holidays, the employee will not be entitled to an additional day’s leave.

• If the employment contract expresses a certain number of days “plus eight bank holidays”, or if the contract specifies which bank holidays are included the employee will not be entitled to an extra day.

With this said, it is common practice as a gesture of goodwill to honour any additional bank holidays or time off in lieu to enhance the psychological contact and boost morale of your staff. So whilst June 2012 seems a long way off, you may wish to start thinking about how this will impact on your employees and your business, and take some early decisions on how you will deal with the extra holiday.