Mr M Milewski v Interpreter - Martha Sydlowski TLC Car Care Ltd — 2019

Mr M Milewski brought a claim for payment in respect of accrued holiday entitlement arising in 2018 that he had not taken. The tribunal found that he had accrued 104.39 hours of holiday and had in fact taken holidays during the 2018 holiday year. Two requests for leave had been refused, one because of pressure of business and one because insufficient contractual notice had been given, but he took alternative holidays.

The tribunal found that the claimant had entered into a contract of employment and Employee Handbook which he understood and accepted. Those documents provided that holidays were to be taken during the holiday year, that employees were encouraged to do so, that carrying forward was not permitted, and that notice of twice the duration of the holiday was required. The tribunal found it was entirely possible for him to have taken his full 2018 entitlement during that year.

The tribunal accepted that the claimant was a hard worker who placed the interests of the business ahead of his own, but found that he chose not to ask the respondent to take the holidays to which he was entitled. It found that the respondent did not prevent him from taking his full holiday entitlement in 2018.

Applying the Working Time Regulations, including regulation 13(9), the tribunal held that leave cannot be carried forward and paid in lieu except on termination of employment. Because the claimant’s employment was continuing, there was no proper basis for payment for untaken leave. The claim was dismissed.