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PCS victory in European Courts and House of Lords

For a number of years now PCS has been supporting a group of members who had been refused annual leave when on long term sick leave.

PCS believed that this refusal was in breach of the Working Time Directive and pursued legal redress in a case that became known as HMRC v Stringer, Ainsworth and others.

The case has finally been decided by the House of Lords following a referral to the European Court. The House of Lords has overturned a previous Court of Appeal decision and found in favour of the PCS members who had taken cases forward.

Summary of the judgments

The key points from the judgments of the European Court and the House of Lords are as follows:

  • Workers on long term (indefinite) sick leave have the fundamental right to annual leave. Therefore workers must either be allowed to take annual leave when on sick leave or they must be allowed the right to carry over annual leave which can then be taken at the end of the sick leave.
  • Workers who are sick throughout a leave year and are then dismissed are entitled to an allowance, based on normal wages, for the annual leave they have not been able to take whilst on sick leave. This allowance will be paid under regulation 14 of the Working Time regulations.
  • Claims for outstanding holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations can be brought as claims for unauthorised deductions from wages claims under the Employment Rights Act 1996.
  • This means that whereas claims under the Working Time Regulations have to be brought within three months less one day of the failure to pay holiday pay or a termination payment, claims for unlawful deductions from wages can be brought within three months of the last in a series of deductions, so that claims can go back more than three months if it can be shown that the underpayments form part of a series.

The House of Lords judgment does leave one issue outstanding as to what may be meant by “a series of unlawful deductions” in the context of annual leave payments.

This decision is a comprehensive victory for PCS members and workers more widely, particularly in the context of staff cuts which put pressure on remaining members of staff and may lead to greater numbers of long term sick absences.

Action to take now

PCS now needs to ensure that we pursue cases on behalf of any other members who stand to benefit from the decision. If you believe that you may have a claim, please contact your nearest PCS representative who will be happy to assist you.

PCS – a union that makes a difference!

PCS is a 300,000 member-strong trade union and an affiliate of the 7 million strong Trades Union Congress.

Our size and strength provide us with the resources to be able to secure decisions such as this one in the courts and fundamentally change the lives of working people for the better.

We ask all PCS members to bring this newsbrief to the attention of non-PCS members and encourage them to join.

Together, we are stronger