Their Lordships have now unanimously held that a claim for (i) unpaid holiday under regulations 13 and 16 of the Working Time Regulations or (ii) a payment on termination under regulation 14 can be pursued as unauthorised deduction claims as well as under the Working Time Regulations. The important practical effect is that a worker can take advantage of the more generous time limits which apply to unlawful deduction claims. A claim for unlawful deduction from wages can be brought within three months of the last in a series of deductions, so allowing a claim to go back more than three months if the underpayments form part of a series.

The ECJ had previously decided that a member state (i) could allow a worker off sick to take annual leave; or (ii) could prevent a worker taking leave while off sick but – and this is the critical point – only if the worker has the right to carry over annual leave to subsequent leave years if he or she was unable to take leave because of illness. It also held that compensation payments on termination should not be discounted on account of sickness.

via UNISON SECAmb.

Although management and unions have now agreed to work more closely together, the Unison union says not much has changed since its branch committee wrote a damning letter to the chief executive earlier this year.

The letter said that the situation “is spiralling out of control” and that there is “a disturbing level of disharmony amongst staff and all levels of management”.

It says that the national response time targets are causing “intolerable pressure”, causing “patient care to become secondary”, and that meeting targets is “more important than staff welfare”.

Read full article: Lowestoft Journal.

Figures obtained by The Argus show the pressures and risks regularly faced by paramedics in Sussex.

The Freedom of Information figures revealed 40 reported cases of physical assaults across the county between April 2008 and March this year.

Read full article:  The Argus

Industrial action could have crippled the region’s service – which now extends from Crewe to Carlisle – putting patients at risk.

Union leaders, who will now not press ahead with a full ballot, said staff had been furious that North West Ambulance Service bosses were considering changes in how emergency vehicles operate without negotiation.

Read full article: Lancashire Evening Post.

UNISON SECAmb are appalled at the apparent lack of progresson the issue of “vehicle communication” for front healthandsafetyline staff.

It was UNISON staff side that formally raised this subject at the July 08 Central H/S Meeting the following meeting we looked at the comprehensive risk assessment and where assured that action to provide the essential equipment would be provided!

To date I believe there are still crews without the essential mobile/radios putting them selves at risk on a daily basis. This is totally unacceptable Therefore if no positive action is taken by the trust within 7 working days unison will take action against the employer with in a range of sanctions including reporting the trust to the H.S.E.under Health and Safety legislation.

Read full article:UNISON SECAmb

The ruling came after the House of Lords requested clarification over the case of five Her Majesty Revenue and Customs workers’ rights to long-term sick leave. This reverses the Court of Appeal’s ruling four years ago that found workers ineligible to claim holiday pay.

The CBI responded describing the ruling “a real blow to firms trying to keep jobs alive during the recession”. Katja Hall, CBI’s director of HR policy went on to say:”Businesses also suffer when staff take sick leave, and we had hoped that a compromise could have been achieved over unused holiday time”.

“Instead, at a time when the economy is struggling, this judgment will ensure that staff are away from the workplace for longer, and it will create a headache for HR departments, who will have to review their policies and contracts.”

Mark Mansell, head of employment at City law firm, Alien & Overy, advised companies that the ruling could prove costly for employers who have a “backlog of accrued holiday entitlement” from employees returning to work.

Some 2.6million people in the UK are claiming incapacity benefits. Sick leave is estimated to cost the economy £100billion a year.

From: UNISON-SECAmb

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