Mr N Sharples (solicitor) v Respondent — 2021

The claimant, Mrs S Holmes, was Deputy Town Clerk. Her contract provided that untaken holiday would be paid on termination at 1/260th of salary for each untaken day. Holiday was arranged informally with her line manager, Mr Draper, and the dispute arose over the amount due when her employment ended in February 2021.

The tribunal found that she had booked a two-week holiday to Turkey in July 2020, later went to the UK coast, and was away for at least five of the ten booked days. Those five days were treated as holiday taken and therefore not payable. The tribunal also considered the respondent's November 2020 furlough memo, under which staff were to receive 100% of salary in return for giving up one day's annual leave for each week of furlough. It held that furlough at full pay was such a fundamental change that it required express agreement, and that a later change to a less beneficial arrangement could be relied on once communicated. On the evidence, 10 days' leave were deducted under that arrangement.

By the end of employment the parties agreed the gross holiday balance was 35.8 days. The respondent had already paid £773.57 for untaken holiday, but the tribunal concluded that 15 days should be deducted overall and that the respondent was in breach of contract only to that extent. Damages were rounded to £1,593. The judge did not make any Regulation 14 Working Time Regulations award because that issue had not been pleaded in the claim form or added by amendment.