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kval, without going into too much detail, this has arisen at work (at least three other people are on the case of "find the word"). Basically for the past thirty plus years staff have been getting an extra "perk" (in this case a day off) over and above what was in their contract in relation to working a bank holiday. Everyone (including former managers) knew about it and worked to it, a new MD is now asking for proof of these accrued days (I don't think he is aware of the past "agreement"). We can only show proof for half of these days, the other half being the "perk", which was never official but had been in place forever.
It is in this context that we are looking for the "word" basically to show that since the practice had been in place for so long it was accepted, and therefor staff who acquired days under this system, should not now lose them.
I hope this explains the situation more clearly.