UNISON have written again to Derby City Council to follow up a request we made in January to meet to discuss how Derby City Council will implement the new law on how people are paid when they are on holiday.
UNISON received a response to our communication in January saying a meeting would be arranged but since then we have heard nothing.
Two recent legal cases on holiday pay could mean that UNISON members may have claims for underpayment if they did not receive their normal pay when on annual leave.
In the first – known as the Lock case – the European court ruled in favour of a UNISON member who argued that paid annual leave should include commission payments if these were part of normal pay.
For UNISON members any additional payments that you receive regularly, such as Stand By, Call Out or Sleep ins may be included if you do not receive these payments as part of your holiday pay when you are on leave.
And recently, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled in another case that overtime payment should be included in holiday pay if members are required to work overtime regularly.
The EAT took the UNISON Lock judgement into account when it reached its decision.
Both cases referred to the European Working Time Directive, with its guarantee of paid leave, and the judgements only apply to the statutory leave entitlement.
Both issues may affect members who have been underpaid in the past when taking leave and UNISON will support members who have a claim.
As with all tribunal cases, there are strict time limits for when a claim must be submitted: for these cases it is three months, less one day, from date of the last alleged underpayment following a period of statutory annual leave.
The meeting we have requested is important because we are about to enter a new leave year on 1st April 2015 and this may generate new claims.
UNISON emailed members about these potential claims last year and a number have been lodged, but we need to remind you that further claims may be generated in the new leave year from April 2015 unless employers agree to include such payments as part of holiday pay.
It is also imprtant that you let us know if you have already started receiving such payments in your holiday pay.
Of course, this issue applies to any member not just those employed by the City Council.
If you think you may have a claim contact the Branch the branch on either the Contact us page or 01332 643216/217 and a case form will be forwarded to you.