THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	9585/03

APPLICANT:		Gareth James Owens

RESPONDENT:		Roulston McLaughlin

DECISION
The unanimous decision of the tribunal is that the respondent is ordered to pay to the applicant the sum of £491.40.

Appearances:
The applicant appeared in person.
There was no appearance entered by or on behalf of the respondent.

SUMMARY REASONS

1.	The applicant alleged that the respondent had failed to make full payment to the applicant for holiday entitlement accrued during his employment.

2.	The tribunal in reaching its decision considered the originating application, the oral evidence of the applicant and the documentation furnished to the tribunal.

3.	From the evidence presented the tribunal made the following findings of fact:-

(a)	The applicant had worked continuously for the respondent as a Painter/Decorator from 19 May 2003 until the respondent terminated his employment on 17 October 2003 with one week’s notice, making the effective date of termination of employment 24 October 2003.

(b)	The applicant took two weeks’ unpaid leave for a holiday in July which had been booked prior to him accepting employment with the respondent.  The applicant received pay for two statutory days’ annual leave for 12 and 13 July public holidays.  The applicant did not take any further holidays during his employment with the respondent.

(c)	After the applicant left the respondent’s employment the respondent failed to furnish him with monies in lieu of accrued holiday leave.  The applicant gross weekly wage was £273.00.  This equalled a daily rate of £54.60.

4.	The applicant considers he is entitled to payment for 8.4 days’ accrued leave arising in the annual leave year of 2003.  The applicant’s claim is that he is entitled to paid annual leave in according with the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.

5.	The material provisions on entitlement to annual leave and compensation related to entitlement to leave are found at Regulations 13 and 14 of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.

6.	At the date of termination of employment the applicant’s accrued entitlement to annual leave in that year calculated in accordance with Regulation 13(5) amounted to a period of just over two weeks or ten days.  Accordingly, in light of the provisions of Regulation 13(6) the period of leave available to the applicant upon commencement of employment was 11 days.

7.	The provisions of Regulation 14 of the Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 led the tribunal to conclude that the respondent is required to make a further payment to the applicant in respect of annual leave reflecting accrued leave of 10.1 days less 2 days’ annual leave availed of in July 2003.  The tribunal considered that it was necessary to treat the proportion of the day in accordance with the provisions set out in Regulation 13(6) so that the ‘fraction of the day shall be treated as a whole’.

8.	The payment was calculated in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 16 and accordingly, the tribunal orders the respondent to make a payment to the applicant in the sum of £491.40.

9.	The applicant did not make a claim for benefits and accordingly, the Employment (Recoupment of Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 do not apply. 

10.	This is a relevant decision within the Industrial Tribunals (Interest) Order (Northern Ireland) 1990.

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:		30 April 2004, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: