Mr E Kersey v DYDRM Limited trading as The Printers Apprentice — 2022

The claimant, Mr E Kersey, was employed by DYDRM Limited trading as The Printers Apprentice from 19 February 2020 to 15 October 2021. At the hearing he accepted that his statutory redundancy payment claim failed because he had not completed two years' continuous employment, that his notice pay had already been paid, and that he was not pursuing any separate arrears of pay argument. The tribunal therefore dismissed the redundancy pay claim, the breach of contract claim for notice pay, and the arrears of pay claim.

The remaining dispute was over holiday entitlement and holiday pay on termination. The tribunal found that the claimant had not taken any holiday in the 2020 to 2021 leave year and that he had reached an agreement with Mr Wood in March 2021 allowing all 36 days of that holiday to be carried forward. The tribunal said that agreement had been recorded in writing but had since been lost by the respondent. It also held, alternatively, that 4 weeks of leave could be carried forward under regulation 13(10) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 because, as a result of coronavirus, it was not reasonably practicable for the claimant to take that leave.

Between 15 July and 8 October 2021 the respondent required the claimant to take 51 days of holiday. The claimant succeeded only on three days where notice was given on 14, 19 and 22 July 2021, but the tribunal held that the notice requirements in regulation 15(2) were varied or excluded by clause 16 of the contract under regulation 15(5), so the respondent was entitled to require leave on those dates. The tribunal rejected the claimant's argument that being salaried prevented the respondent from requiring holiday on particular days. On the tribunal's findings, the claimant had 54 days' leave in total, less 51 days taken, leaving 3 days unpaid.

The tribunal ordered the respondent to pay £242.31 for accrued but untaken holiday pay, calculated under clause 17 of the contract at 1/260th of annual salary per day. No separate award for interest, injury to feelings, or other compensation was made.