Annual leave and holiday pay
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.
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 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.
The European Court of Justice has confirmed that the Working Time Directive (03/88/EC) does not require an unlimited accumulation of a worker's paid annual leave during a period of long-term sickness absence.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that employees on sick leave must, to be paid for holiday under the Working Time Regulations 1998, give the required statutory notice during the relevant leave year of their intention to take that holiday.
The European Court of Justice has considered whether or not "normal remuneration" during a period of annual leave should include allowances on top of basic pay, in the context of a dispute over how the holiday pay of British Airways pilots who are paid flying allowances as well as basic pay should be calculated.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that a worker absent for the whole leave year, but who does not submit a request for the annual leave before the leave year ends, does not forfeit his or her entitlement to paid annual leave.
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.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to annual leave and holiday pay.