We’ve written a lot recently about the recent European rulings that affect how holiday pay is now to be calculated – none of which have been good news for the employer.
The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) are now challenging the rulings calling for the UK government to make a stand against the ECJ – in particular relating to the potential for employees to make backdated claims, even though these rulings have only now redefined the existing UK legislation.
Simply put – until the recent rulings, to date UK businesses who only paid holiday pay based on contracted hours were NOT breaking the law yet there is now potential for employees to make a claim covering previous years.
The CBI state that some businesses report that they face potential bankruptcy if these claims are made & are successful. This surely creates a no win situation that can hardly help our economy recover & won’t benefit employees who find themselves without a job using their backdated holiday pay to live on?
Whilst we can somewhat (I wouldn’t say we’re fully behind them!) appreciate the arguments for how holiday pay should be calculated in future, morally it seems unjust to change the rules & allow claims to be brought relating to periods before those rules were changed – where else in the law would we allow that kind of approach?