OVERTIME-HOLIDAY PAY - EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL JUDGEMENT

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Letter to Branches




No. 750/2014
Ref:
Date: 19 November 2014


TO ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS



Dear Colleague

OVERTIME/HOLIDAY PAY – EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL JUDGEMENT

Further to LTB 587/14, you will be aware of the recent Employment Appeal Tribunal judgment that was published on overtime and holiday pay. This has received a significant amount of media coverage and the purpose of this LTB is to explain, based on our legal advice, what this means for CWU members and how the union is proceeding in dealing with this matter.

The judgment ruled that overtime which an employee must work under their contract if it is offered has to be included within holiday pay. However, the judge distinguished this from purely voluntary overtime (which an employee is under no obligation to work), which he did not rule on. As a result of this the case did not deal with the type of overtime that CWU members on the postal side typically work directly.

The legal advice we have received suggests there is still a case to be argued that voluntary overtime which is regularly worked should also be included within holiday pay and we will be meeting all of the employers our members work in to try to agree a way forward. This issue is unlikely to be resolved quickly – the recent tribunal cases are likely to be appealed and any other legal cases will be put on hold until that legal process has finished. However, there is a time limit within which claims can be made so it is important for us to act now to protect all members’ claims.

The recent legal cases also point to a more general principle that any elements of pay which an employee regularly receives, not just overtime, should be paid on annual leave. We are seeking legal advice on other payments that may be covered by this, which will also be part of our discussions with the employers.

This is a complex legal issue and there is also now political uncertainty, following the government’s announcement that it would establish a taskforce with business lobby groups, to assess the recent Appeal Tribunal judgment. We are therefore preparing communications to be sent to members’ home addresses explaining the situation and how we will be taking this forward to protect any claims they may have.

Please ensure the content of this LTB is circulated to all CWU Representatives and distributed in workplaces.

Any queries on the contents of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department.

Yours sincerely



Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)

[korky]

so, if it's got anything to do with the cwu, nothing will change then.
can't say i've ever met anyone whose "forced" to work overtime, though i guess there are some industries that do.
so all those constant "can you work your day off" & "can you make sure you complete even if you go over because we've no cover" pleas don't count!
yes all our overtime is voluntary but there can't be many folk, especially the 20-ish hour staff who only do their contracted minimum.
our union should be pushing this argument, if you're not willing to pay average holiday pay, make it against company policy for a dom to ask anyone to work past their times,
then any requests "to complete" should be classified as forced overtime,

[El-Bandito]

What happened to the maximum 25% part time per office?
Getting closer to 50/50. The Cwu will want us to contribute to the tories next!!
These f###wits wonder why only 31% voted to keep contributing to Labour( sorry tory lite). For Fuxxake.

[clashcityrocker]

What happened to the maximum 25% part time per office?

That is a figment of your imagination.
The agreement spoke of a 75/25 f/t to p/t on a national basis not office by office.

[Martin Walsh]

The ruling made was based on complusory overtime or contractural overtime and we already have an agreement on scheduled attendance being paid whilst on holiday.

There are future employment cases involving voluntary overtime and indeed other pay amounts you may get being paid whilst an indivdual is on leave and legal advice is that these cases will help employees more in regards to those working either above their contracted hours either as a part timer or on overtime.

[dvbuk55]

The ruling made was based on complusory overtime or contractural overtime and we already have an agreement on scheduled attendance being paid whilst on holiday.

There are future employment cases involving voluntary overtime and indeed other pay amounts you may get being paid whilst an indivdual is on leave and legal advice is that these cases will help employees more in regards to those working either above their contracted hours either as a part timer or on overtime.

Hi dingo I knew you wouldn't leave us in limbo.

[Tman]

I expect he knew you wouldn't be able to resist some silly post after his, too.

[dvbuk55]

I expect he knew you wouldn't be able to resist some silly post after his, too.

Seriously Tman what's silly about dingos' post?

[calum1502]

Any update on this issue ?