In the UK, and most of Europe, employees have statutory rights to holiday leave and the question of holiday pay (and how to calculate it) has been a challenging issue for a long time. The Supreme Court in London has provided much-needed clarity by ruling in Harpur Trust v Brazel that holiday pay for part-year workers, including term-time or casual workers, should not be pro-rated. It has been confirmed that such workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks’ statutory holiday pay, the same as employees who work full-time all year. This decision will have a significant impact on employers of part-year workers who have been pro-rating holiday pay using the now discredited “12.07% method”. Going forward, employers will now need to average holiday pay over a 52-week reference period and change their policies to reflect this decision.
UK: Harpur Trust v Brazel and Holiday Pay
