Supreme Court: holidaying pilots to be paid supplements
British Airways pilots’ holiday pay must include their “flying pay supplement” and “time away from base” allowance as well as their basic salary, the Supreme Court has held.
The case, BA plc v Williams and Ors [2012] UKSC 43, will affect thousands of similar claims brought by BA crew and hundreds of claims brought by staff at other airlines.
It concerned whether the payment of basic salary only to pilots on annual leave is in breach of reg 4 of the Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/756). Under their terms of agreement, pilots receive a basic salary plus a “flying pay supplement” of £10 per hour spent flying, and a “time away from base” allowance of £2.73 per hour, but only basic salary while on holiday.
BA argued there was a need for legal certainty, and that the Aviation Regulations were too “unspecific” to give effect to the Aviation Directive.
The Supreme Court referred the case to the European Court of Justice, which held that a pilot on annual leave was entitled “not only to the maintenance of his basic salary, but also, first, to all the components intrinsically linked to the performance of the tasks which he is required to carry out under his contract of employment and in respect of which a monetary amount, included in the calculation of his total remuneration, is provided”.
Delivering his judgment, Lord Mance rejected BA’s arguments and remitted the claims in respect to the two supplementary allowances to an employment tribunal.
Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association, says the case “sets a benchmark across the whole of the aviation industry”.
“We always believed that under European working time rules introduced in 2004 pilots should be treated like other working people in the UK and should receive their proper pay during holidays. This should not be restricted to basic salary but should include allowances.”
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