The European Court of Justice ("ECJ") has handed down its judgment in King v The Sash Window Workshop Ltd and held that a UK worker incorrectly classified as a self-employed contractor has the right to backdated holiday pay. The decision will have an important impact on holiday pay rights in the UK.
What was this case about?
Mr King was wrongly classified as a self-employed contractor. His contract contained no provision for holiday. He was not paid for holiday he took and, as a result, took substantially less holiday than he was entitled to. After his engagement was terminated in 2012, he brought a claim asserting that he should receive back pay for all the holiday which he did not take over the 13 years of his engagement. His claim was successful at the Employment Tribunal but that decision was overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal. The Court of Appeal referred the case to the ECJ to consider whether the UK Working Time Regulations ("WTR") were incompatible with the EU Working Time Directive. The key question was whether Mr King should be allowed to carry over his full amount of untaken leave in spite of the provision in the WTR stating that leave may only be taken in the year in respect of which it is due and cannot be carried over.
What were the key findings?
The ECJ made the following key findings: