Judgment in Harpur Trust v Brazel: part year workers should receive the same holiday pay as staff employed all year round

The long awaited Judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel has finally been handed down.

By way of background, Ms Brazel worked as a music teacher for Harpur Trust but only during term time. She had sought to argue that she should receive holiday pay based on her average earnings for the 12 week period rather than pro-rated and that the holiday pay should be calculated by taking the average weekly remuneration for the 12 weeks prior to the calculation date and multiplying it by 5.6. Harpur Trust said that they had calculated her holiday pay based on her earnings at the end of each term, calculated 12.07% of that figure and paid her hourly rate for that number of hours as holiday pay. They had used the ACAS guidance available at the time although this has since been rewritten. The Supreme Court have ruled that Ms Brazel should receive the same holiday pay as someone who was employed all year round.

The Supreme Court Judges were critical of the Trust’s method of calculating holiday pay and said that “the two methods proposed by the Harpur Trust would require complicated calculations requiring all employers and workers to keep detailed records of every hour worked, even if they were not paid at an hourly rate”. It remains to be seen whether legislation will be drafted which takes into account the Supreme Court’s decision. Employers should consider carefully whether they need to make any backdated holiday pay to staff bearing in mind that the Judgment will be at the forefront of employees’ minds.

Please contact Liz Watt by email at liz@bradleyhayneslaw.co.uk or 01905 900 919 if you require further assistance following the Judgment.