Thread by @JasonBraier

1/ Thread: The CJEU judgment in the holiday pay case of King v Sash Windows is out and is a 'must-read' for all #ukemplaw practitioners. curia.europa.eu/juris/document…

2/ As you'll know, Mr King worked for Sash Windows for 13 years and was never paid for taking annual leave. This meant some years he was reluctant to take it. #ukemplaw

3/ On retirement he brought a claim for (1) pay for holiday accrued but untaken in his final leave year; (2) pay for holiday taken throughout the 13 years; and (3) payment in lieu for accrued but untaken holiday throughout the 13 years.

4/ The ET found he was entitled to pay for each of the 3 bases of claim. The EAT allowed Sash's appeal. The CA referred 5 #ukemplaw questions to the CJEU, namely:

5/ To the first question, the CJEU focused quite heavily on the purpose behind paid annual leave being to allow relaxation and leisure, and that not paying for annual leave deters the taking of it and is incompatible with its purpose. #ukemplaw

6/ Thus to provide an effective remedy, the WTD (and hence WTR) have to be read so that a worker needs not take his leave in order to be able to bring a claim to establish entitlement to be paid for the leave. #ukemplaw

7/ The CJEU took referred questions 2-5 together, focusing on whether any limits should be placed on the accumulation of entitlement to payment for annual leave which the employment refused to pay for. #ukemplaw

8/ In the cases concerned with annual leave untaken during sickness, the CJEU placed a 15 month limit on carry-over. The CJEU explains in King that this was to protect employers and because too large a carry-over wouldn't reflect the relaxation and leisure purpose of the right.

9/ However, such a limitation is only justified when strictly necessary to safeguard the interests the derogation protects. #ukemplaw

10/ Here, the limitation is not strictly necessary given that this claim does not concern entitlement to be allowed to take annual leave (and hence have a long period of absence from work) but to be paid for annual leave that had accrued. #ukemplaw