In a landmark victory, thousands of refuse workers are to be compensated for their employer’s failure to include overtime when calculating their holiday pay.
The employer was accused of hiding behind Brexit when it failed to incorporate overtime pay into annual holiday pay citing ‘Brexit legal uncertainty’. The tribunal found that the voluntary overtime worked was part of members’ normal pay, because there was an intrinsic link between the overtime and their role, and because it was performed with sufficient regularity to be part of normal pay. As a result, voluntary overtime must be included in the calculation of the successful claimants’ holiday pay for the first 20 days of their holiday each year in accordance with EU law. Contractually guaranteed overtime should also be included for the first 28 days based on long established UK law, which the employer was forced to concede during the hearing.