Implications of the Smith v Pimlico Plumbers Ltd Holiday Pay Case

In the most recent litigation involving Smith v Pimlico Plumbers Ltd [2021] UKEAT 0211/19/1703, the EAT held that where a worker had been permitted to take annual leave but had not been paid for it, they were not permitted to carry over the right to payment for the holiday to future years.

The EAT distinguished the European Court of Justice’s ruling in King v Sash Window Workshop (C-214/16) [2018] ICR 693 on the basis that King established that a worker is entitled to carry over annual leave which is untaken because the employer refuses to remunerate it. It did not apply where the leave was in fact taken.

Facts

Mr Smith worked for Pimlico Plumbers Ltd as a plumbing and heating engineer from