Millions of workers across the UK are being paid under the Government's furlough scheme amid the coronavirus outbreak.
With a bank holiday approaching on Friday bosses might be considering how this affects payments - and it's not straightforward.
Furloughed employees are workers on a temporary leave of absence but have not been made redundant.
Staff on the Job Retention Scheme can take annual leave and they need to be paid in full for this time.
Employers relying on the government grant to fund 80 per cent of the employee's wage will need to provide the remaining 20 per cent themselves, reports the LiverpoolEcho.
But Alan Price, chief executive of BrightHR, revealed that staff do not automatically get a day off for a bank holidays - it depends upon the terms and conditions of an employee’s contract.
He said: "If staff are contractually entitled to take bank holidays, they should be paid in full for any bank holidays that fall during a period of furlough.
"This means that if the May Day Bank Holiday is still designated as a bank holiday for people on furlough, full pay will be needed on Friday May 8.
"If employers wish to avoid having to meet this payment, they will need to seek agreement from staff to take the day in lieu at a later date.
"That said, they should proceed carefully and make sure they can evidence that staff have agreed to it. This is not something that an employer should seek to enforce; such an action would technically be a breach of contract."
Where staff are not contractually permitted to take bank holidays off, it will be left to the employer to decide if they will let furloughed staff take it as leave and, therefore, fund the remaining 20 per cent.
The bank holiday will have no impact on staff earnings or entitlement, if they do not allow workers to take this off. But they must be allowed to take the time at a later date.
