New European Ruling on Holiday Pay

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

Guys worth a little read, this could get interesting in next few weeks :)

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... rs-3871878" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

THOUSANDS of Scots shift workers could be entitled to millions of pounds of holiday pay for overtime and nightshift hours they have put in over the years.

A new European ruling means employees across the country will be able to claim back substantial amounts of money from their bosses.

The new law will benefit anyone who gets extra cash in their normal pay packet for overtime and shift payments, including nightshift and commission – but doesn’t get that cash when they take holidays.

Law firm Thompsons say the judgment is the biggest development in employment law since thousands of low-paid women won millions in damages for equal pay.

Thompsons’ solicitor David Martyn said: “When news of the ruling first emerged, it was thought it would only apply to people in sales jobs who made extra cash from commission.

“But it also applies to the tens of thousands of Scots who rely on extra payments from overtime and nightshift work to make ends meet.”

The legislation says that overtime and extra shift payment money is also due to workers while they are on holiday and must be backdated by several years.

Backdating may go as far back as 1998, meaning that tens of thousands of people across Scotland could be in line for huge amounts of backdated holiday pay.

Martyn added: “We believe that workers across all sectors will qualify for backdated holiday pay.

“You might be a car salesman who relies on commission as a key part of your salary or work unsociable shifts in the public sector and receive extra payments for that. We also believe that call centre workers who receive regular bonus money will qualify.”

For thousands of workers, these so-called “extra” payments are a normal part of their pay packet but when they are on holiday, they receive only their basic pay packet.

Martyn said: “That’s completely unfair and the law says that now. This change in the law will mean workers can now afford to take their leave.”

The new European ruling on holiday pay is backed by the STUC and leading trade unions. All union members should get in touch with their union officials if they want to raise a claim.

Martyn warned people to act quickly to stop employers trying to block claims. He added: “You don’t need to be in a union to make a claim but I would encourage union members to speak to their rep about this.

“If you’re not in a union, you can still make a claim by contacting specialist employment lawyers.”

[Hitcher]

So the rest of the UK doesn't need OT to make ends meet?

Anyway, at RM you get OT when you're off on leave.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

So the rest of the UK doesn't need OT to make ends meet?

Anyway, at RM you get OT when you're off on leave.

Its a scottish newspaper that why it only mentioned scottish people due money back, law will apply uk wide,

As for ot while on holiday, this will be extra on top of any you decide to work on your annual leave (working ot on annual leave is against current national agreements by the way)

[Lincox]

a

[gazza911]

main thing is how do we claim it ......

[wannabeek]

Would be one heck of a big claim if this is true. I'd be due between 100 - 150 hours just myself and I've only been with the company a few years. I'm not getting my hopes up yet, I reckon there'll be loopholes aplenty should it come about.

[Hitcher]

(working ot on annual leave is against current national agreements by the way)

Not in our office!

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

(working ot on annual leave is against current national agreements by the way)

Not in our office!

i said its against national agreements, i didnt say it doesnt happen, happens in ours as well

[Lincox]

National Agreements are there to be broken. Local rules the roost. What is the point of collective bargaining?

[bustedflush]

This is old hat. UK laws going back to the 50's state that 'an employee may not be financially disadvantaged when taking statutory holiday leave'.
Shift pay MUST be paid when you are on holiday if your regular hours. Even if you did say 3 months on shift then the subsequent weeks holiday pay earned should reflect this even if you went back to 'normal' hours afterwards. IF companies have NOT been reflecting shift pay in holiday pay hitherto, then they have been breaking the law anyway.
Overtime is different - IF you do contractual OT then the holiday pay must reflect it, however if you do it on an ad hoc basis it doesn't. In other words, if RM asked you to do 47 hours for the next 3 months, the holiday pay earned should reflect that too. However, if they asked weekly to do say, 2 hours, then 5 etc. it is classed as temporary for purposes of holiday pay.

P.S. I know this, as I worked for a company for 5 years doing nights and never received the shift part on holiday. I wrote to a director and said this was unlawful, and officially asked for abut 1500 quid in back pay. 3 months later every employee got up to 5 years' back shift/hol pay. Their lawyers told them to pay it. Needless to say, I was sacked as soon as the opportunity arose 18 moths after this.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

This is old hat. UK laws going back to the 50's state that 'an employee may not be financially disadvantaged when taking statutory holiday leave'.
Shift pay MUST be paid when you are on holiday if your regular hours. Even if you did say 3 months on shift then the subsequent weeks holiday pay earned should reflect this even if you went back to 'normal' hours afterwards. IF companies have NOT been reflecting shift pay in holiday pay hitherto, then they have been breaking the law anyway.
Overtime is different - IF you do contractual OT then the holiday pay must reflect it, however if you do it on an ad hoc basis it doesn't. In other words, if RM asked you to do 47 hours for the next 3 months, the holiday pay earned should reflect that too. However, if they asked weekly to do say, 2 hours, then 5 etc. it is classed as temporary for purposes of holiday pay.

P.S. I know this, as I worked for a company for 5 years doing nights and never received the shift part on holiday. I wrote to a director and said this was unlawful, and officially asked for abut 1500 quid in back pay. 3 months later every employee got up to 5 years' back shift/hol pay. Their lawyers told them to pay it. Needless to say, I was sacked as soon as the opportunity arose 18 moths after this.

not quite old hat, the uk law has just been deemed unlawful by the ecj in this new judgement, so yes it is sort of old news but it is a new development

[bustedflush]

This is old hat. UK laws going back to the 50's state that 'an employee may not be financially disadvantaged when taking statutory holiday leave'.
Shift pay MUST be paid when you are on holiday if your regular hours. Even if you did say 3 months on shift then the subsequent weeks holiday pay earned should reflect this even if you went back to 'normal' hours afterwards. IF companies have NOT been reflecting shift pay in holiday pay hitherto, then they have been breaking the law anyway.
Overtime is different - IF you do contractual OT then the holiday pay must reflect it, however if you do it on an ad hoc basis it doesn't. In other words, if RM asked you to do 47 hours for the next 3 months, the holiday pay earned should reflect that too. However, if they asked weekly to do say, 2 hours, then 5 etc. it is classed as temporary for purposes of holiday pay.

P.S. I know this, as I worked for a company for 5 years doing nights and never received the shift part on holiday. I wrote to a director and said this was unlawful, and officially asked for abut 1500 quid in back pay. 3 months later every employee got up to 5 years' back shift/hol pay. Their lawyers told them to pay it. Needless to say, I was sacked as soon as the opportunity arose 18 moths after this.

not quite old hat, the uk law has just been deemed unlawful by the ecj in this new judgement, so yes it is sort of old news but it is a new development

I think the reporting may be a bit dodgy here. I notice they use the year 1998 in the article, that was last re-wording of the holiday pay legislation and also had articles about Bank Holidays in it. Did you know that until 1998 no employer had to pay you for the bank holidays? In practice they did, but weren't obliged to.
I will sort out the UK legislation that deals with this, and demonstrate that it was here before the Euro ruling, so I think the ruling must be about irregular shift earnings/commissions/OT because REGULAR was already dealt with.

[bustedflush]

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... MOOQAmAHxw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


SEE PAGE 7 OF THE ACAS PDF!

It was already compulsory for firms to pay average shift pay when calculating holiday pay. As I said, if firms were not doing this they were breaking the law anyway, and why this needed to go to the EU court I don't know....
This was the piece of the legislation I got my previous company to comply with in my letter, and their lawyers advised them to back-pay us all......

It also mentions that NON-CONTRACTUAL OT is not considered in calculation holiday pay. If this is going to change in the new ruling then yes, this IS something new!

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... MOOQAmAHxw


SEE PAGE 7 OF THE ACAS PDF!

It was already compulsory for firms to pay average shift pay when calculating holiday pay. As I said, if firms were not doing this they were breaking the law anyway, and why this needed to go to the EU court I don't know....
This was the piece of the legislation I got my previous company to comply with in my letter, and their lawyers advised them to back-pay us all......

It also mentions that NON-CONTRACTUAL OT is not considered in calculation holiday pay. If this is going to change in the new ruling then yes, this IS something new!

it is the non contractual OT that is now included

[bustedflush]

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j& ... MOOQAmAHxw


SEE PAGE 7 OF THE ACAS PDF!

It was already compulsory for firms to pay average shift pay when calculating holiday pay. As I said, if firms were not doing this they were breaking the law anyway, and why this needed to go to the EU court I don't know....
This was the piece of the legislation I got my previous company to comply with in my letter, and their lawyers advised them to back-pay us all......

It also mentions that NON-CONTRACTUAL OT is not considered in calculation holiday pay. If this is going to change in the new ruling then yes, this IS something new!

it is the non contractual OT that is now included

Yes, that's my understanding of it, but shift/hol pay was already set in legislation. This would mean companies tracing any person on their books not paid holiday pay pro-rata to OT worked that may have left too.