Working time
In this case, the employment tribunal found that a worker, who had refused to work more than 48 hours per week, was automatically unfairly dismissed by his employer.
In this case, a security company told workers that their 28-day entitlement to annual leave would be reduced because they were paid double for working bank or public holidays. The Northern Ireland industrial tribunal found this to be a breach of the workers' statutory right to a minimum of 28 days' annual leave.
The Court of Appeal has held that an NHS worker who was absent for the whole leave year and who did not submit any requests for annual leave during her absence was entitled to holiday pay on the termination of her employment.
The European Court of Justice has confirmed that a worker who is sick during a period of annual leave cannot be precluded from taking the holiday at a time other than that originally scheduled, irrespective of when the incapacity for work first arose.
In Russell and others v Transocean International Resources Ltd and others [2012] IRLR 149 SC, the Supreme Court held that offshore workers' regular onshore field breaks constitute annual leave for the purposes of the Working Time Regulations 1998.
Sinead Jones is an associate, and Phil Dupres and Beckie Howlett are trainee solicitors at Addleshaw Goddard. They round up the latest rulings.
The European Court of Justice has held that German legislation allowing for a carry-over period for untaken holiday of nine months, with the result that public servants forfeit their leave if it has not been taken within the period of nine months after the end of the leave year because of sickness, is unlawful.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that the "refusal" or "proposed refusal" of a worker to accept his or her employer's contravention (or proposed contravention) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/1833) must be communicated in advance to the employer.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has referred to the European Court of Justice the question of the extent to which employers can avoid giving workers daily rest periods and rest breaks because of the need for continuity of service or production.
The European Court of Justice has said that it is contrary to the Working Time Directive (03/88/EC) for national legislation to make entitlement to paid annual leave conditional on a worker having worked a minimum of 10 days for the same employer in the holiday year.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to working time.