a compulsory holiday. Your holiday entitlement compensates for the Bank or public holiday that you may or may not have to work. As a result, if you do request a Bank or public holiday off, this will be deducted from your holiday entitlement and must be booked as per the normal booking holiday procedures. If you are paid hourly and are required to work on a Bank or public holiday, you will be paid at the rate set out in your Contract of Employment. For all other employees who do not work in the restaurants, in most cases you will be required to take all Bank and public holidays off.These have already been deducted from your holiday entitlement, so there is no need for any further processes to be followed. 6.4 RELIGIOUS HOLIDAYS We welcome religious diversity and understand that our people observe different religious days. If you wish to take certain days off for religious reasons, please follow the holiday booking procedure. Should your request be successful this day will be taken as paid holiday. In some instances, we are unable to accommodate everyone’s requests to take leave if the request is to have the same time off. As a result, please ensure you request them off as soon as possible so you’re more likely to get them approved. 6.5TIME OFF FOR DEPENDANTS We all from time to time may need time off for a family emergency. For instance, if you need to take time off to deal with an emergency involving someone that you are immediately close to. e.g. your spouse, partner, child, parent or someone who depends on you for care. Please ensure you notify your manager as soon as possible so that they can support you.You will need to let them know how long you expect to be absent for. Payment during this time is down to the discretion of your manager.You can choose for your time off to be deducted from your holiday entitlement if it has been authorised by your line manager, but this will need to be agreed in writing before the leave is taken. 6.6 COMPASSIONATE LEAVE Byron understands that on occasion you may need to take compassionate leave in order to deal with bereavement or similar situations. Individual circumstances should be discussed directly with your manager, as Byron is here to support during this difficult time. 17 6.HOLIDAYANDLEAVEENTITLEMENT 6.1 GUIDANCE AROUNDTAKING HOLIDAY Everybody needs a holiday from time to time and that is why taking all of your holiday entitlement is encouraged in Byron. Your holiday entitlement is outlined in your contract of employment.The holiday year runs from the 1st April until the 31st March. It is important that you take your holiday entitlement each year for your own health and wellbeing and if you don’t use it, you will lose it as you are not able to carry any days over into the following holiday year. Your basic paid company holiday entitlement is 5.6 working weeks per holiday year.That is 28 days’ pro rata and is inclusive of bank holidays, unless stated differently in your contract of employment. We also offer an increase in holiday with your length of service. So, if you work for us for 5 years we will give you an extra day and if you work for us for 10 years, we will give you an additional 5 days. •  If you decide to leave us and take more holiday than you have accrued, please be mindful that we reserve the right to deduct any overpaid holiday pay from your final salary payment. If the overpayment is more than your final pay, you will owe the company the balance immediately and you will be notified in writing in this regard. •  You need to make sure that you use all your holiday entitlement for the holiday year, otherwise you could risk losing it.You are not allowed to carry any outstanding holiday days over into the following holiday year, unless there are extenuating circumstances. •  If you have booked holiday, then you must ensure that you take this as holiday and do not work, unless agreed by both yourself and your line manager. •  Your Manager has the authority to request or decline your holiday to prevent holidays all been taken and requested for the same periods of time. •  Should you not have accrued enough holiday your request may automatically be declined. 6.2 BOOKING HOLIDAYS In order to ensure your holiday request is authorised, please remember to agree your holiday dates well in advance with your line manager giving a minimum of 4 weeks notice. In the event that your dates clash with your colleagues’ requests that have already been authorised or where your request does not fit with the needs of the business, Byron reserves the right to decline your holiday request. 6.3 BANK HOLIDAYS If you work in our restaurants, you will be required to work any Bank or Public holiday, except for Christmas day which is 16