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In Northern Ireland, employees are entitled to holiday pay. This is by virtue of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998. The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had calculated the amount of holiday pay police officers received by reference to their basic pay. However, it should have been calculated using normal pay, which includes overtime.
Understandably, PSNI officers are required to do a great deal of overtime and because of this, they were not getting the holiday pay they were legally entitled to. McCartan Turkington Breen was contacted by a number of police officers and by civilian staff of the PSNI. They instructed employment law specialist, John McShane, to begin a class action lawsuit. If successful, all PSNI employees would also reap the benefits of the ruling. This class action ultimately increased to nearly 3,380 police officers and over 350 civilian staff.
John issued proceedings against the Chief Constable. He denied the allegations, so the matter was set to proceed to Industrial Tribunal and Fair Employment Tribunal. It was argued that there had been unlawful deductions from PSNI employees’ pay.
Tribunal rules PSNI owes £30m in outstanding holiday payhttps://t.co/kWGH7Nl2Ad pic.twitter.com/DHAtWsSDP5
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) November 5, 2018
A previous ruling in a high-profile case in Great Britain had determined that holiday pay should include an average of overtime. John used this ruling in his arguments on behalf of the clients.
At the conclusion of the case, the Judge ruled in favour of the PSNI employees.
The landmark case gained national media coverage and was reported on by the BBC, Belfast Telegraph and The Irish Times.
Commenting on the importance of the case, John said: “the Chief Constable’s failure to pay staff in accordance with the legal requirements resulted in the need for police and civilian staff to incur the cost of pursuing legal proceedings to seek redress for their lawful entitlement to be properly paid whilst on annual leave.”
The Chief Constable went on to appeal the decision in The Court of Appeal and lost.
You can learn more about the appeal at Judiciary NI.
“The employers now appeal to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court unanimously dismisses that appeal.” – Lady Rose, Justice of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal that police officers are entitled to claim in respect of a series of deductions and thus can also claim in respect of the underpayment of their holiday pay as far back as 1998.
The Supreme Court went on to hold that the PSNI had made a series of unlawful deductions, each being factually linked to its predecessor by the common fault or unifying or central vice that holiday pay had been calculated by reference to basic pay rather than normal pay.
You can learn more about the appeal at The Supreme Court.
As well as resolving important points of principle, this judgment has enormous implications for the PSNI. If the PSNI had succeeded in their appeal, the likely cost of remedying their failure to properly calculate holiday pay was in the region of £300,000.
As a result of this judgment, it is now likely to cost in excess of £30 million.
If you believe your employer is failing to respect your rights at work, we may be able to help. Visit Employment Law or learn more about our services. Alternatively, contact us for a free and confidential initial consultation with an employment law solicitor.
