Supreme Court rules in favour of “part of the year” employees: what this means for you and your business

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favour of part-of-the-year employees being paid the same holiday entitlement as year-round employees.

In The Harpur Trust Vs Brazel case, judges heard how Ms Bazel (Bazel), a music teacher who works term-time only hours at a school, lost out on potential earnings after the school changed the way it calculated her holiday pay in 2012.

Bazel’s earnings were calculated at the close of each term, 12.07 percent was then subtracted from the calculated total. This figure was used to give the holiday rate for the corresponding number of hours worked.

This method for determining casual workers’ holiday pay is widely used and even recommended in the previous Acas guidance. This has subsequently been rewritten.

Bazel pointed out that this method of working out holiday pay ran counter to working time regulations.

She argued that holiday pay should be calculated using average weekly remuneration figures for the 12 weeks up to date of calculation. This figure should then be multiplied by 5.6.

Following several appeals, the Supreme Court has ruled in her favour, putting an end to the matter.

The judgment passed will have serious financial implications for employers, especially in the education sector.

You might be wondering what this Supreme Court ruling has to do with businesses and other organisations across the UK>

The main implications include the reconsideration of the types of contracts employers offer, and how payroll systems are structured to reflect the changes in work hours with holiday pay.

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