UK: Statutory holiday pay - no appeal over ruling on retrospective claims

In last month's e-bulletin we reported the landmark EAT judgment in Bear Scotland v Fulton that pay for the 4 weeks' EU statutory holiday entitlement must be calculated to include an appropriate amount for regular overtime (at least where employees are obliged to work it if offered). Helpfully for employers, the EAT limited retrospective claims for a series of historic underpayments by ruling that a gap of three months would break any series; claimants can only bring a claim for underpayments in an unbroken series and provided the claim is brought within three months of the last in the series.

It was widely anticipated that the union backing the case, Unite, would appeal this part of the judgment. However, on 26 November Unite announced that it was not going to appeal, saying that it was never its intention to bankrupt companies but rather to ensure fair payment in the future.

Of course, this does not prevent the point being pursued further in other cases (perhaps including the Lock case due to be heard again in February 2015).

Our detailed briefing analysing the case and discussing practical steps employers should take now is available to clients on request. Please do get in touch with your usual HSF contact if you would like to discuss the implications of this development for your business.