In July last year, the Supreme Court ruled in the long running case of the Harpur Trust v Brazel in favour of Ms Brazel. This case concerned the calculation of holiday pay for Ms Brazel, who worked term times only (a permanent ‘part-year worker’) on a zero-hours contract.  As a result of the decision, there is concern that workers who, like Ms Brazel, work part-year and irregular hours are entitled to  more holiday pay than those workers who work an equal number of hours across the  year.  

The Government is now seeking to remedy this disparity and is consulting on the calculation of holiday entitlement received by part-year and irregular hours workers. 

The consultation is proposing to change legislation to bring in a new system for calculating holiday entitlement for part-year and irregular hours workers which would effectively ensure that workers were entitled to holiday entitlement based on the hours that they had worked over a 52 week reference period. The proposed changes are designed to rectify the anomaly created in the Harpur Trust v Brazel decision.   

Those employers who may have an interest in this area can respond to the consultation until midnight on 9 March. Responses can be made online or via email at [email protected] 

 

This article reflects the position at the date of publication (21 February 2023). If you are reading this at a later date you are advised to check that that position has not changed in the time since.   

 

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