Contractor did not accrue holiday whilst on furlough
05 July 2021
An Employment Tribunal has ruled that contractor, Mr. D Perkins, did not accrue annual leave during the time in which he was furloughed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
Perkins stated that whilst he was on a contract for services through recruitment agency, The Best Connection Group Ltd., and on furlough, he was entitled to accrue holiday leave. The Tribunal found that whilst he was on furlough he was not classed as a ‘worker’ and so would not be entitled to worker rights. Holiday pay accrual is one of those worker rights.
When Perkins was not working, he was not covered by the 1998 Working Time Regulations. Additionally, the contract provided by the agency stipulated that he would not receive payment for any time not spent on assignment whether in respect of holidays, illness or absence for any other reason.
The result of the Tribunal also aligns with the government’s guidance on holiday pay and furlough, which includes the following:
“Some agency workers on a contract for services may not be entitled to the accrual of holiday or to take holiday under the Working Time Regulations while on furlough because they are not workers or treated as workers under those regulations when between assignments or otherwise not working on assignments. Contracts may nevertheless include holiday provisions which will continue to operate in the same way as they did prior to the furlough period.”
The information in this article is accurate at the time of publication. For all the latest information, news and resources on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting payroll professions, visit our Coronavirus hub.