Mr D O’Donnell v Poppy Maxwell Ltd — 2024

The claim was for holiday pay only, arising from about six months' work for Poppy Maxwell Ltd as a barista and later barista supervisor in central Glasgow. The tribunal heard evidence from the claimant and from the respondent's director, Mr Curtis. It found that the claimant was paid £10.50 per hour, later £11.50 per hour, took one day's annual leave in August amounting to 10 hours, and left employment on 29 September 2023. Where the ET3 figures and the pay slips differed, the tribunal used the pay slip hours, and it treated the "net" hours as the correct hours because they excluded unpaid breaks.

Applying the Working Time Regulations 1998 and Harpur Trust v Brazel [2022] UKSC 21, the tribunal calculated holiday pay by reference to the claimant's average weekly pay under ss.221-224 ERA 1996. Because the claimant had no normal working hours, it used s.224. On the tribunal's findings, he had worked 25 weeks, giving a pro-rated entitlement of 2.7 weeks' holiday; after deducting the 10 hours of leave already taken, 2.44 weeks remained unpaid.

Multiplying 2.44 weeks by the claimant's average gross weekly pay of £420.75 produced £1,026.63 gross holiday pay due. The tribunal found the respondent had already paid £850 gross on 13 October 2023 and a further £201.50 gross on 1 December 2023, making £1,051.50 gross in total. As that exceeded the amount found due, the tribunal held that the claimant had been paid all outstanding sums on termination and dismissed the holiday pay claim.