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School’s Out, quid’s in! Court of Appeal rules term time workers to receive more holiday pay
In the case of The Harpur Trust v Brazel, the Court of Appeal has ruled that school staff who only work part of the year should be paid the same minimum statutory entitlement of 28 days annual leave as other workers. Typically, ‘Part Year Staff’ only work during school term times and are not paid during the school holidays. This decision means that term time workers will have their holiday pay calculated differently to part-time staff who work the full year.
In the case against The Harpur Trust, Ms Brazel, was engaged by the Trust on a zero-hours contract. Her zero hours contract entitled her to 5.6 weeks’ annual leave, pro-rated based on the weeks that she worked during the course of a year. The hours she worked were decided at the start of each school term depending on the number of pupils wanting tuition. At the end of each term, the school calculated her holiday pay by:
- Working out her average daily rate of pay over the course of the entire term;
- Calculating this at 12.07% of the hours worked in a term.
This is in accordance with the recommendations set out by Acas.
Mrs Brazel argued that calculating her holiday pay in this manner meant that she was worse off. She felt that rather than pro-rating her entitlement based on the number of weeks for which she was paid during a school year, she should be given the full 28 days’ holiday each year regardless. She claimed that although she was only paid during term time, she was still engaged by the school during this period and should be treated like a full-time teacher.
The Court agreed with Ms Brazel. Whilst is acknowledged that this would mean that she would receive holiday pay equivalent to 17.5% of annual pay (rather than the 12.07%), the Judges felt that Mr Brazel should be treated like all other full-time staff as she was still under contract with the school outside term time. In handing down the court’s judgment in, Lord Justice Nicholas Underhill coined the term “part-year worker” to describe this type of working arrangement.
If you need any assistance in relation to any employment advice, do not hesitate to contact Ben Stanton, Associate Partner & Employment Solicitor on 01908 660966 or at ben.stanton@franklins-sols.co.uk.