Holiday Pay: Long-Term Back Pay Claims

A Northern Ireland Court of Appeal ruling could lead to a further development in how much employees can claim in relation to holiday pay claims. Workers ordinarily have three months to bring a claim for an underpayment. Where there is a 'series' of underpayments, a worker may bring a claim within the last three months of the last underpayment in that series. The current position is that where there is a break of three months or more in the 'series', this limits how far back the employee can claim. The case of Chief Constable of Northern Ireland Police v Agnew considered whether a gap of more than three months in a 'series' of deductions should break that series. The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland (the 'NICA') said it did not.