Harpur Trust v Brazel: Appeal rejected and ruling still stands
19 July 2022
In May 2019, the court of appeal ruled that Harpur trust’s holiday calculation for Brazel, using the 12.07% method, was unlawful. Following an appeal to the supreme court, it has been published today that Harpur Trust’s appeal has been dismissed unanimously and the ruling still stands.
Brazel was a part-time music teacher, who had varying hours throughout the year. When taking holiday, her employer calculated her holiday pay at 12.07% of hours worked. Brazel disagreed with the method, as the prescribed method in legislation was to use a reference period of 12 calendar weeks to calculate the holiday due.
It should be noted that legislation has been updated since this case started, and the current prescribed reference period is 52 weeks.
The court ruled that Mrs Brazel’s method was right, and today the Supreme Court has backed this judgement.
The CIPP advises all employers to ensure they are using the 52-week reference period method to calculate holiday pay, as this is the method specified by legislation.
The CIPP policy team will provide further information regarding the case and its implications in due course.
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