Regular voluntary overtime should be reflected in holiday pay, says tribunal

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Voluntary overtime work should be reflected in holiday pay calculations if it is “sufficiently regular”, according to a Midlands (West) Employment Tribunal ruling.

The judgment came in the case of White & Others v Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, in which 56 tradesmen brought a claim for unpaid holiday pay, arguing that their voluntary overtime, standby and callout work was regular enough to be considered “normal”. The council argued that the tradesmen were under no contractual obligation to undertake the extra work and as it was voluntary, it did not form part of their contractual pay.

Judge Warren of the Midlands (West) Employment Tribunal ruled that voluntary overtime, standby and callout payments should be considered “normal pay” when the work is undertaken with “sufficient regularity”, which means they should be reflected when calculating a worker’s holiday pay.


The tradesmen who brought the claim worked on a Saturday on a voluntary basis and also elected to go on standby every four weeks to deal with emergency callouts. As the claimants’ voluntary overtime, standby and callout work had been undertaken regularly for a number of years, payment for it had become part of their normal, expected pay.

However, uncertainty remains over what should be considered “sufficiently regularity”. Jonathan Gidney, the barrister at St Philips Chambers who represented the claimants at the tribunal, said: “I would say once a quarter, or more, would be classified as ‘regular’ work. Once every six months might be pushing it a bit.”

The ruling in White & Others v Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is a first-instance decision, and therefore not binding. However, Laurence O’Neill, employment solicitor at OH Parsons, who brought the case on behalf of the tradesmen, believes the ruling could prove highly significant.

He said: “What we have done so far is establish the principle. We now have to look at each claimant’s individual case to determine whether there is a benefit to them to take the claim forward.

“I don’t know if Dudley are going to appeal it, but in some ways I hope they do because the precedent is being set now for this type of voluntary work to be done.”

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Well there's thousands of PT posties up and down the country doing 39hr+ weeks on a regular basis, as that's how the business operates currently.

If you're working up to FT hours you should attract the same holiday as FTers, it's only fair.