Voluntary overtime should be taken into account when calculating holiday pay, the Court of Appeal found.
In Flowers v East of England Ambulance Trust the Court of Appeal ruled that, where overtime is sufficiently regular and settled for it to amount to ‘normal’ remuneration, it should be taken into account when calculating holiday pay.
The case involved several ambulance crew who worked voluntary overtime – they were free to choose whether or not to undertake it. In their claim to the employment tribunal, they argued that their voluntary overtime should count towards their ‘normal’ remuneration and should be included in holiday pay.
Daniel Barnett’s Employment Law Bulletin explained that Lord Justice Bean, who delivered the leading judgment, agreed with the ambulance crew.
“He stated that voluntary overtime should be counted when calculating holiday pay if it is sufficiently regular and settled for payments made in respect of it to amount to normal remuneration (para 32).
“Much of the judgment was taken up with distinguishing an outlier judgment of the CJEU last year, Hein, which appeared to suggest otherwise. It’s worth reading (paragraphs 33 onwards),” commented Barnett.
