Mr K Hebditch v Weston Super Mare Town Council — 2021

Mr K Hebditch, employed by Weston Super Mare Town Council as a box office administrator, brought a claim seeking a recalculation of holiday pay said to arise from regular overtime worked between January 2017 and July 2019. He said he had worked additional hours outside his contracted hours, mainly in the evenings, and that the accrued but untaken holiday associated with that overtime should be paid to him. He presented the claim on 25 July 2020 after ACAS early conciliation.

The tribunal dealt first with limitation. It held that the relevant time period started at the end of July 2019, when the claimant's contractual position changed, rather than in March 2020 when the holiday year ended. The claimant argued that holiday pay was calculated annually and that the amount due could only be known at the end of the holiday year, but the tribunal rejected that submission and held that the wages from which the alleged deduction was made were those paid by the end of July 2019.

The tribunal then considered whether it had been reasonably practicable for the claim to be presented in time. It accepted that the claimant had raised the issue internally and had waited for an answer, but found that he was aware from at least April 2018 that he could bring a Tribunal claim, having accessed the ACAS website and having raised the matter with his line manager. It found that he had not been misled about his rights, that any fear of repercussions would not have been reasonable on the evidence, and that there was no illness or disability affecting his ability to claim. Referring to the test in Palmer v Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, the tribunal concluded that the claim was not presented within the statutory time limit and that it was reasonably practicable to have done so. It therefore held that it had no jurisdiction and dismissed the unlawful deduction of wages claim.