Holidays and contracts

Case 11: The facts

Derek Cook and 265 colleagues brought a claim over entitlement to statutory holidays.

Their holiday entitlement was set out in their contracts of employment and a collective agreement: the contract said they were entitled to nine statutory/occasional holidays as determined by the company, and the agreement said that the dates would be set "according to local circumstances".

The employer introduced a new system allowing it to set dates that did not coincide with local public holidays, thus depriving workers of the opportunity to earn enhanced rates during bank holidays.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that there was nothing in the contract or the collective agreement to say the employer must choose the dates of statutory holidays to coincide with public holidays, and the employer could therefore take account of other factors if it wanted to. The terms of the contract were clear, and there was no need to consider other factors in order to interpret it.

The EAT added that, if the employer had intended other factors to be considered, it could have addressed the issue when it entered into the collective agreement.

Cook and others v Diageo EATS/0070/04