Employers throughout the United Kingdom have been eagerly awaiting the outcome of this very convoluted case in respects of aspects of holiday pay when looked at through other intrinsically linked payments – in this case commission.
So, it was with a level of disappointment that we heard this week that The Supreme Court has refused permission for British Gas to appeal against this important ruling.
There has been a number of referrals and appeals since the initial tribunal in 2014 at the European Courts of Justice culminating in the appeal being upheld last October. However, there were still a number of questions which required answers; was Mr Lock underpaid and what is the appropriate reference period for calculation? and although it confirmed that the court had ruled that the Working Time Regulations 1998 could be interpreted with the EU Working Time Directive and case law of the European Court of Justice to ensure that contractual results-based commission is taken into account for the purposes of calculating holiday pay, there were still too many grey areas outstanding.
Now that The Supreme Court has considered the application against the Court of Appeal’s judgment and turned down the request it means the case has reached what is known as “finality”.
There is therefore further items The Employment Tribunal will also need to consider now it has moved back to that arena and the understanding is that this will be completed in the coming month and final decisions made and issues resolved.
