Mr K Balakumar v Menzies Aviation (UK) Limited — 2022

The claimant remained employed by the respondent as a baggage handler. The tribunal treated the claim as one under the Working Time Regulations 1998, rather than breach of contract or unauthorised deductions, because the issue was accrued untaken holiday entitlement at the end of the 2021 holiday year.

The tribunal found that the claimant had 9 hours of outstanding holiday entitlement at the end of 2021, not 25 hours, because he had taken two further days of holiday in December. It also found that the claimant had repeatedly tried to book holiday and that his email of 10 December 2021 asking for his remaining holiday to be booked on “any day” specified the days to be taken for the purposes of Regulation 15, given the respondent’s earlier communications about limited availability.

The tribunal declined to reduce the award under the ACAS code. It found the claimant’s failure to use the grievance process was not unreasonable in the circumstances, including the respondent’s stated position and the unlikelihood that a grievance would have altered the outcome. The respondent was ordered to pay £113.57.