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11 December 2014 / Sarah Johnson
Issue: 7634 / Categories: Features , Employment
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Holiday pay hell?

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What does Bear Scotland mean for employers, asks Sarah Johnson

The news has been full of holiday pay stories recently, but are employers facing holiday pay hell?

Yes, in that they will almost certainly have to include some variable payments, such as commission, in holiday pay, creating potentially significant liabilities. However, things looked a lot worse before the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision in the joined cases of Bear Scotland Ltd and Others v Fulton and Others UKEATS/0047/13/BI, Hertel (UK) Limited v Woods and Others UKEAT/0160/14/SM and A mec Group Limited v Law and Others UKEAT/0161/14/SM (EAT decision).

Unite, the union representing the claimants, has now said it will not appeal.

Background

We are in this position because the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has held that our Working Time Regulations 1998 (regulations) do not comply with the European Working Time Directive (directive).

The directive provides employees/workers with at least four weeks’ paid annual leave in order to improve their health and safety. The UK “gold-plated” the directive, adding an

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NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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