'Pimlico Plumber' Loses £74,000 Holiday Pay Claim
Following the Supreme Court decision that a plumber (Mr Smith) was engaged as a 'worker' for the purposes of relevant legislation, Mr Smith has lost his claim for £74,000 of holiday pay.
The Pimlico Plumbers case was a highly publicised 'gig economy' case which concerned Mr Smith, who worked for Pimlico Plumbers as an independent contractor. The Supreme Court held that Mr Smith should be classed as a 'worker' and therefore entitled to paid holidays and the national minimum wage. For further information on this case, please click here.
Unfortunately for Mr Smith, an Employment Tribunal has ruled that he was not entitled to £74,000 of holiday pay arrears, because his claim was filed too late. Claims for arrears of holiday pay in the Employment Tribunal are usually pursued under the unlawful deduction provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996, which provide that claims based on a "series of deductions" must generally be brought in a tribunal within three months of the last in the series (subject to any extensions of time for ACAS conciliation).
At the time of writing, we only have media reports of the case outcome, so the Tribunal's reasoning in deciding that Mr Smith's claims are out time is not yet available. It will be interesting to see how it reached that conclusion when the judgment is published.
Watch this space…
For more information, please contact Bob Fahy in our Employment Law team on 01923 919 302, or complete the form below.