Holiday pay ruling expected to have positive impact on employees

One claimant explains the relief of looking forward to more stress-free time off

One of the individuals involved in yesterday’s successful Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) relating to the interpretation of the Working Time Directive with regard to calculation of holiday pay has spoken about his reasons for pursuing the case.

Douglas Baxter, 47, has explained the impact he believes the ruling will have on his life and that of other employees.

The BEAR Scotland employee consistently works significant overtime hours in the fulfilment of his duties, and has no complaints in doing so. However, this has meant that taking holidays, to spend some time with family or break away from the stresses of work, has inevitably led to greater worries around not being able to cover usual monthly expenses.

In essence, he was worse off during the times of the year that he should be enjoying his earnings, because holiday pay covered only the basic salary, rather than an average overtime amount. The Employment Tribunal have yet to assess losses for Mr Baxter, but preliminary calculations show losses of around £1,500 per year.

Mr Baxter said: “This is really great news – I’m extremely pleased with the outcome of today’s ruling. I wanted to pursue this further to get what I, and others like me, really deserve. In a way, I felt I was being penalised for taking time off work as dropping back to a basic salary when I work so much overtime was difficult. To have overtime acknowledged in holiday pay is a fantastic result and will mean that my decision to take time off for holidays in the future will be an easier one to make.”

Employment Law Specialist, David Scott from Minster Law, responsible for representing Mr Baxter said: “It was our aim to get fair treatment for our client to ensure that he is receiving the package he deserves to compensate for his hard work. While we appreciate that this will have an impact on UK businesses, we felt it was important to focus on the effect that the misinterpretation of the Working Time Directive was having on his life and that of millions of other employees.

“We hope that today’s ruling will lead to an improvement in working conditions, and therefore overall wellbeing of a large percentage of hardworking people.”

For further information contact the Minster Law press office on 01652 680060 or email [email protected]