Under the Working Time Regulations, the statutory holiday must be taken in the holiday year it is due. Contracts often require staff to give reasonable notice before taking a holiday. Even if their contracts say nothing, the statute allows employers to insist on advance notice that is twice the length of the requested holiday.
Mitie Security Ltd
In the case, Mr Lyons was a security guard for Mitie Security Ltd, working at various sites. Approaching the end of his holiday year on 31 March, he had nine days’ holiday in hand. His contract stated that it had to be taken during the holiday year and could not be carried over or be paid in lieu. Employees were required to submit holiday requests at least four weeks in advance wherever possible but the contract said requests at shorter notice would be considered on their merits and subject to staffing levels.
As Mr Lyons had no work scheduled for the rest of the month, he contacted Mitie on 6 March, asking them to treat nine days during March as a holiday. When he later found he had not been paid for this leave, he raised a grievance and subsequently resigned.
Statutory holiday
He argued that his entitlement to the statutory holiday was absolute and nothing could take away his right to it. Mitie argued that employers must be allowed to require employees to follow a procedure when requesting holiday, including advance notice, otherwise how could they monitor staffing levels and ensure they were not undermanned.
The EAT agreed with Mitie. They said there can be situations where leave will be lost provided that the procedure operates during the whole leave year and an employer does not act “unreasonably, arbitrarily or capriciously” when operating notice provisions.
If leave is requested at short notice and it is not possible to accommodate it, the employer does not have to agree to the request. Care must be taken to avoid unfairly exercising discretion over such requests. That could lead to a successful claim, not only for the lost holiday pay but also on the grounds that the employee’s contract had been breached and that he has been constructively unfairly dismissed. As always in employment law, a careful path has to be trodden through the eggshells!
For advice on managing employees’ and their absence requests, please contact our employment and business immigration team.
Our legal experts have been busy sharing valuable expertise in their first series of free webinars for employers, and businesses across the county who missed the live events can now…
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) has thrown a much-needed lifeline to businesses experiencing cashflow difficulties as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. 17 December 2020 Today, Rishi Sunak…
The global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) and the government’s resulting emergency measures have had severe implications for many businesses. Read on for answers to some frequently-asked questions on corporate &…
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through our website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorised as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyse and understand how you use our website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies but it may affect your browsing experience on our website. You can find our cookie policy here.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for our website to function and enable core functionality such as security and accessibility. These cookies do not store any personal information. You can block these cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.
We use performance cookies such as Google Analytics to help us count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone. For more information on how these cookies work, please see our cookie policy.