Workplace Report April 2002

Features: Law at Work

Holiday pay

Workers who have been denied the right to paid holidays, in breach of the Working Time Regulations can claim net unpaid wages for all of their lost holidays back to 1998.

The EAT has held that a failure to offer the minimum statutory entitlement to paid holidays can be pursued as an unlawful deduction under Part 11 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The failure amounts to a "series" of unlawful deductions, which means that the time limit for presenting a claim runs three months from the date of the last unlawful deduction.

* List Design v Douglas EAT/0966/00 and 0481/01