header-logo header-logo

How Harpur Trust v Brazel will affect holiday pay

21 October 2022 / Sarah King
Issue: 7999 / Categories: Features , Employment
printer mail-detail
98022
Sarah King looks at the various scenarios and conundrums facing employers of workers on variable hours
  • Covers implications of Harpur Trust v Brazel, a Supreme Court decision on the holiday pay entitlement of workers with variable hours.

Paid holiday is a fundamental and long-established feature of UK employment contracts. But the question of how employers calculate holiday pay for workers with variable hours has been the subject of much debate. This issue has recently been settled by the Supreme Court, which delivered its judgment on the matter in July in the case of Harpur Trust v Brazel [2022] UKSC 21, [2022] All ER (D) 72 (Jul). In doing so, it upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2019 decision in the case: that part-year workers should not have their paid holiday apportioned.

Circumstances of work

The case was originally brought by Mrs Brazel, a music teacher who was employed on a permanent zero-hours contract by Harpur Trust, a charity which operates a number of independent schools

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
back-to-top-scroll