As many of you will have read. The judgment in Brazel v Harpur Trust has caused lots of issues for employers who engage casual or zero hours staff. For the uninitiated the judgment means that any holiday pay calculation should substitute non-working weeks with weeks with pay from the previous year when calculating holiday pay. This can potentially double the cost of holiday pay depending on the amount of work done in a particular year.

The judgment has had the inadvertent impact of deterring employers from engaging staff for fear of miscalculating holiday and facing tribunal claim. To address the issue the government has opened a consultation into the issue. We strongly recommend that employers take part in this consultation to address the issues created by the Brazel case and rectify the issue, particularly those who engage casual staff.