Mrs P Varley v The Secretary of State for Justice — 2025

The claimant, a non-legal member of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal since 1998, brought a claim that she had never been paid for holiday taken since 1 October 1998, under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) and as an unauthorised deduction from wages under the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA). Employment Judge Deeley, sitting alone at Leeds (by CVP) over 30 September to 3 October 2025, dismissed all complaints.

The Tribunal held that the claimant was not a 'worker' for the purposes of Regulation 2 WTR (whether under domestic law or under the Working Time Directive for leave periods pre-dating 31 December 2023), nor a 'worker' for the purposes of section 230 ERA. The Tribunal further concluded that the WTR/ERA definitions of 'worker' should not be interpreted under s.3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 to include the claimant's status as a non-legal member, having considered her Article 14 rights read with Article 8 and Article 1 of Protocol 1 ECHR.

In the alternative, the Tribunal found that the claimant had failed to comply with the notice requirements in Regulation 15 WTR: marking herself as unavailable to sit (during which time she also undertook other paid work) did not constitute notice of leave, and she could not identify the specific dates on which annual leave had been taken or when payment should have been made. Having dismissed the substantive claim, the Tribunal did not need to determine the rolled-up holiday pay or set-off issues.