The European Court of Justice ("ECJ") has handed down
its judgment in King v The Sash Window Workshop Ltd and held that a
UK worker incorrectly classified as a self-employed contractor has
the right to backdated holiday pay. The decision will have an
important impact on holiday pay rights in the UK.
What was this case about?
Mr King was wrongly classified as a self-employed contractor.
His contract contained no provision for holiday. He was not paid
for holiday he took and, as a result, took substantially less
holiday than he was entitled to. After his engagement was
terminated in 2012, he brought a claim asserting that he should
receive back pay for all the holiday which he did not take over the
13 years of his engagement. His claim was successful at the
Employment Tribunal but that decision was overturned by the
Employment Appeal Tribunal. The Court of Appeal referred the case
to the ECJ to consider whether the UK Working Time Regulations
("WTR") were
