Calculating holiday pay

Accrued holidays outstanding when an employee leaves work should be calculated by taking annual pay divided by the number of working days in the year, according to the EAT. The EAT has held that the Working Time Regulations make this the appropriate calculation, because if based on all the days in a calendar year it could mean that someone would get less than the national minimum wage hourly rate.

* Leisure Leagues v Maconnachie [2002] IRLR 600

The Court of Appeal has effectively closed a loophole which allowed employers to avoid paying statutory holiday pay to temporary workers. It has held that employers cannot unilaterally decide that the employee's weekly pay includes an element for holiday pay. The only circumstances when this would be possible would be where this had been expressly provided for in the employment contract.

* Blackburn v Gridquest [2002] IRLR 604