Late in July, the Supreme Court gave its decision in Harpur Trust v Brazel.
The background to the case is that Mrs Brazel was employed as a ‘visiting music teacher’ and was entitled to 5.6 working weeks’ holiday per year which she had to take during term time. Her holiday pay was calculated at a rate of 12.07% which is a long-standing of calculating holiday pay for those who work irregular hours.
Mrs Brazel brought a claim as her holiday pay was calculated at 12.07% of the hours she worked during the previous term. She argued that her pay should have been calculated based on an average of the 12 weeks immediately before the end of the previous term. Please note, pay is now calculated over the previous 12 months following a change in the law from 6 April 2020.
Initially her claim was dismissed as the Tribunal found that the Working Time Regulations could be read in such a way that the 12.07% calculation was a valid method to calculate pay.
Appealing the decision, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) and the Supreme Court stated that the initial decision was incorrect and that the Government had already decided how it should be calculated.
If you take the sensible approach, someone who works the normal 52 weeks a year has their holiday pay calculated based on 52 weeks, so why shouldn’t someone who works irregular hours?
If you are confused about holiday pay then please get in touch with us and we will be happy to help.
