Working time
The European Court of Justice ruled in April 2010 that workers who take parental leave cannot, after the leave, be deprived of their annual leave entitlement accumulated during the year preceding the birth of their child. The judgment also deals with the rights of part-time and fixed-term workers.
In Lyons v Mitie Security Ltd EAT/0081/09, the EAT held that, in principle, the ability to take annual leave is not inalienable and can be lost if the worker does not comply with the notice requirements imposed by the Working Time Regulations 1998 and/or the worker's contract. However, the tribunal had erred in failing to analyse properly whether or not the particular notice requirements of the claimant's contract had been complied with, before deciding to dismiss his constructive dismissal and holiday pay claims.
In Pereda v Madrid Movilidad SA [2009] IRLR 959 ECJ, the ECJ held that art.7(1) of the Working Time Directive must be interpreted as precluding national provisions or collective agreements that deny a worker who is on sick leave during a period of scheduled annual leave the right to take the annual leave at a later time, even if this is outside the holiday year in which the annual leave was accrued.
In HM Revenue and Customs v Stringer and others sub nom Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Ainsworth and others [2009] IRLR 677 HL, the House of Lords held that a claim for unpaid holiday due under the Working Time Regulations 1998 can be brought as an unlawful deductions from wages claim under ss.13 and 23 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.
In Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund; Stringer and others v Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Cases C-350/06 and C-520/06 ECJ, the ECJ has held that the Working Time Directive allows member states to prevent workers from taking annual leave during periods of sickness, provided that they are permitted to take it at some other time. If sickness prevents a worker from taking his or her annual leave entitlement, it must be carried over into the next leave year. Workers whose employment is terminated cannot have their payment in lieu of annual leave reduced on account of a period of sickness prior to the dismissal.
In The Corps of Commissionaires Management Ltd v Hughes EAT/0196/08, the EAT held that the entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998 to a 20-minute rest break where the working day exceeds six hours is an entitlement to a single rest break and not a rest break for every six hours worked. Where an exception means that the right to a rest break does not apply, the employer must provide compensatory rest, which should be granted at a time when the worker would otherwise be working.
This week's case of the week, provided by DLA Piper, covers working time.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has upheld an employment tribunal decision that an employee who was allowed to sleep for much of his shift, but had to deal with anything untoward that might arise, was entitled to be paid the national minimum wage for the whole shift.
In Miles v Linkage Community Trust Ltd EAT/0618/07, the EAT held that an employment tribunal was entitled to make no award of compensation where an employer had breached its obligations under the working time rules in respect of daily rest breaks.
In Lyddon v Englefield Brickwork Ltd EAT/0301/07, the EAT held that, where an individual knew that his normal pay would include an element of holiday pay, subsequent identification in his payslip of the actual amount so allocated was sufficient to make it part of his contract, thus allowing the employer to offset those payments against the pay that was due to him when he actually took holiday.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to working time.