The call is made in EEF’s response to the DTI Consultation on increasing paid annual holiday entitlement which closes today. This proposes to add eight days to the current statutory entitlement of four weeks paid annual holiday.
EEF believes that there is no justification for new rules to apply for the extra eight days where the employer already provides more generous entitlement than the Government is proposing. EEF wants such employers (who offer more than 28 days annual paid holiday including bank holidays) to be exempt from additional legislation in this area.
By adhering to this government would be reflecting its own objectives as stated in the DTI’s Success at Work Strategy ’Protecting Vulnerable Workers-Supporting Good Employers’ by rewarding good employment practice with a lighter regulatory regime. If the government fails to provide this exemption then good employers, and their employees, will be faced with three sets of legal rules governing the conditions for the giving and taking of holiday;
- the Working Time Regulations and EU law that govern the first four weeks
- the new rules that govern the next 8 days
- the contract of employment law that governs any remaining days
EEF believes this could affect flexible benefits packages that allow employees to trade holiday entitlement for other benefits such as healthcare, insurance, death in service benefit, store vouchers, and childcare schemes. Employees may also face further restrictions on their ability to carry over holiday entitlement to another year.
Commenting on the proposals, Peter Schofield, Director of Legal & Employment Affairs at EEF said:
“Instead of targeting the vulnerable at work these proposals risk smothering employers in more red tape and denying employees flexible benefits. Any new legislation in this area should be targeted at the mischief it seeks to remedy and not impose restrictions on the freedom of others. Additional burdens in this area fly in the face of the government’s stated objectives of simplification and better regulation”