Calculating Pilots' Holiday Pay

[Thanks to Katarina Sydow, Pupil Barrister at Outer Temple Chambers for preparing this case summary]

Does the employment tribunal have jurisdiction to determine what sums should properly be included in a pilot's holiday pay?

Yes, says the the Supreme Court in British Airways plc v Williams & Others.

The Supreme Court held that the employment tribunal has jurisdiction to hear pilots' complaints that their holiday pay has not been calculated at a representative rate.

By Regulation 18 of The Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004, the employment tribunal has jurisdiction to hear complaints arising from an employer's refusal to permit the exercise of a right related to paid annual leave, and to award compensation. This includes the jurisdiction to determine whether an employer's calculation of a pilot's holiday remuneration has taken account of the correct components of pay.

The employment tribunal must determine whether the pilots' holiday pay should include a proportion of their "Time Away from Base Allowance". In accordance with an earlier ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union [see bulletin on this], the employment tribunal will have to exclude from holiday pay any payments that British Airways genuinely intended to be made exclusively to cover the pilots' costs.