OK I'm a general manager of a recruitment agency employing temporary workers and my own staff so a bit off an expert in this field.

1) There is no law requirering a employment contract, there is a law for a letter offering employment.

2) Sick pay is not required to be paid untill you have been off sick for 3 days (i.e. the first 3 days off sick are unpaid) then legally SSP kicks in at arround £70 per week. You are considered to be off sick untill you return to work, therfore if you were off sick on thursday day -1, friday - day 2, Monday - day 3, thus no entitlment to any pay.

3) Legal holiday entitlment is 20 days a year, bank holidays do not figure into this in anyway, so it is 20 days total. The goverment are not happy that employers are not paying Bank Holidays but also understand that some business' need to opperate on said days and to compensate people for those days without forceing companies to close are giving us from 1/10/07 an additional 4 days a year making a total of 24.

Any questions give me a shout.

If you said you were sick on the thursday or gave the impression that you were sick, then you would have had to ensure that you reported that you were fit for work on the Friday, as this was a Bank Holiday obviously you could not do this, therefore the companys sick pay scheem would come into force.

You really need to get a copy of your contract of employment, if it states that you are not paid for sickness then they dont have to pay you for a Bank Holiday, however if they do have one and they do pay sick pay to staff who are off then they must pay you, under employment law they can not count bank holidays as part of your anual leave and must also give you 4 week plus the Bank Holidays and these all must be fully paid

Originally Posted by mikesvilla

If you said you were sick on the thursday or gave the impression that you were sick, then you would have had to ensure that you reported that you were fit for work on the Friday, as this was a Bank Holiday obviously you could not do this, therefore the companys sick pay scheem would come into force.

You really need to get a copy of your contract of employment, if it states that you are not paid for sickness then they dont have to pay you for a Bank Holiday, however if they do have one and they do pay sick pay to staff who are off then they must pay you, under employment law they can not count bank holidays as part of your anual leave and must also give you 4 week plus the Bank Holidays and these all must be fully paid

I'm sorry but you are incorrect UK Holiday entitlement is 20 days total bank holidays do not come into the question, lagally if you want a bank holiday off work you need to book it off as holiday counting against you 20 days. That is bassically the Law but many companies give bank holidays inaddition that is their choice a company that does not is not doing anything wrong. In the same way I give my staff 10 weeks paid holiday a year just because other companies don't does not mean that they are acting illegally

Hmm, one other thing that you should remeber is that a you may well have agreed to a a 'verbal' contract, when you accepted the job. If they outlined hours of work, holidays etc at that time, then that can be said to form a contract.
I remember in my yonuger days, when I was hourly paid, then if you had time off the week before a bank holiday, then you didn't get paid fo the day off.
Also, as stated several times, an employer does not have to pay you for a bank holiday (over and above your holidays). So if you have 20 days per year and there are 5 bank holidays per year, then you can actually only book 15 days off as holiday, if you wish to be paid for your bank holidays.
In your position I would carefully study any offer of employment letter you got & also think carefully about what was said at your interview/appointment.

it's a hard one, contact the citizens advice for information, they helped me sort out a case similar to you a while ago.