A round up of the latest HR and Employment Law updates and related stories.

DOES A CHANGE IN WORKING HOURS MEAN A RECALCULATION OF HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENT FOR THE WHOLE YEAR?

A recent case heard by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) means that holiday entitlement needs to be very carefully calculated for workers who either increase or decrease their contracted hours during a holiday year, such as, for example, a part-time worker who works more hours.

The recent case of Greenfield v The Care Bureau Ltd 2014/C 223/11 related to the EU Working Time Directive and The Working Time Regulations 1998, SI 1998/1833, as amended by the Working Time (Amendment) Regulations 2007, SI 2007/2079 involving a claimant whose working hours varied on a weekly basis.

In July 2012 Ms Kathleen Greenfield took seven days holiday. In the 12-week period immediately preceding this, her working pattern was just one day a week. However, during the course of the same holiday year, Ms Greenfield increased her hours, working an average of 41.4 hours of work per week for a period of time.

When in November 2012 Ms Greenfield requested further leave she was advised that she had already taken all her holiday entitlement since her employers had calculated what was due based on her working pattern of just one day a week. Ms Greenfield subsequently claimed pay in lieu.

Initially, the employment tribunal upheld her claim, but on appeal the ECJ held that:

• annual leave should be calculated in accordance with the worker’s contractual working pattern, and the hours, days (including any fractions) actually worked
• should a worker change their working patterns, any accumulated holiday entitlement is not recalculated. Any holiday entitlement already accrued remains due.

Practice managers need to be aware that;

(1) You need to distinguish between periods of different working patterns when calculating holiday entitlement.

(2) Therefore, any leave which has already been accrued at the time of a worker changing their working pattern remains due. This means that the worker is still entitled to take whatever holiday entitlement has accrued.

(3) However, any future holiday entitlement is calculated according to the actual number of hours that will be worked.

(4) This means that, for example, should a part-time worker increase their hours, their entitlement is not recalculated for the whole holiday year, it is just recalculated for the future working hours.

For further information about holiday entitlement see http://practiceindex.co.uk/gp/blog/hr-human-resources/holiday-pay-for-gp-practices/

TRIBUNAL FEES

Since July 2013 applicants making a claim to an employment Tribunal must pay a fee unless they are entitled to a remission. The fee remission system (which also applies to Court claims) means that applicants who are in receipt of certain qualifying benefits, or who are on a low income, do not have to pay the relevant fees.

Previously, all applicants who requested fee remission had to submit relevant paperwork (such as proof of pay and bank statements) to support their request. From 28 October 2015 applicants now self-certify, but checks are made with the Department for Work and Pensions (as to benefits received) and income.

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