Annual leave and holiday pay
Karen Smith and Sophy Robinson of Addleshaw Goddard bring you a comprehensive update on the latest decisions that could affect your organisation, and provide advice on what to do about them.
In Smith v AJ Morrisroes & Sons Ltd and other appeals, the EAT holds that the guidelines set out by the EAT in Marshalls Clay require that "there must be mutual agreement for genuine payment for holidays, representing a true addition to the contractual rate of pay for time worked."
In Merino Gomez v Continental Industrias del Caucho SA, the European Court of Justice holds that pregnant workers have a dual entitlement to annual leave and maternity leave: pregnant workers must be able to take their annual leave during a period other than their period of maternity leave.
In Bamsey and others v Albon Engineering & Manufacturing plc [2004] IRLR 457 CA, the Court of Appeal held that where overtime hours have been worked during the 12-week period immediately preceding the date on which a worker's holiday begins only those hours that the employer is contractually required to provide and the worker contractually required to work count as normal working hours for the purposes of determining the amount of a week's pay.
In Evans v Malley Organisation Ltd t/a First Business Support the Court of Appeal holds that an employee who was paid a basic salary, plus commission which depended on contracts he won for his employer, was entitled, on termination of his employment, to accrued statutory holiday pay calculated by reference to his basic pay alone, and not his average pay including commission.
In Hill v Chapell, the EAT holds that there was no "overpayment" of holiday pay or of wages in circumstances where an employee was entitled, under the Working Time Regulations 1998, to 20 days' paid holiday per annum, and had taken 15 days' paid holiday by agreement with her employer during her six months of employment.
In Addison & Addison (t/a Brayton News) v Ashby, the EAT holds that a 15-year-old "paper boy" is not a "worker" for the purposes of the Working Time Regulations 1998, and so is not entitled to four weeks' paid annual leave under the Regulations.
In Leisure Leagues UK Ltd v Maconnachie, the EAT holds that a payment in lieu of holiday made on termination of employment should be calculated by reference to a daily rate of pay based on the number of working days in a year (233 days), and not by the number of days in the calendar year (365 days).
The Court of Appeal gives important guidance on how far tribunals need to go in exploring the circumstances of a claim. Plus cases on protected disclosure, redundancy selection, discrimination by an agent, working time exemptions and constructive dismissal.
In Thames Water Utilities v Reynolds, the EAT holds that the Apportionment Act 1870 applied to the computation of a day's annual holiday pay to which an employee was contractually entitled on termination of his employment, and that the meaning of "a day" for these purposes is a calendar day rather than a working day.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to annual leave and holiday pay.