Breakthrough: UK Supreme Court grants holiday pay to music teachers

Breakthrough: UK Supreme Court grants holiday pay to music teachers

News

norman lebrecht

July 20, 2022

A landmark ruling today by the highest court in the land has given music teachers the right to receive holiday pay during the summer months when they are not contracted for work.

The Unison union reports:
The case, Harpur Trust v Brazel & UNISON, was taken by music teacher Lesley Brazel. She argued her employer was wrong to give her fewer days of annual leave than the legal minimum because she only worked during the school term.

UNISON got involved in the Brazel case because of its implications for thousands of school staff employed on term-time only contracts. The situation had previously been confused because of the absence of any government guidance on their holiday rights, says UNISON.

Thanks to the judgment, it will no longer be possible for employers to argue staff who don’t work all year are only entitled to holiday based on the hours they work.

Comments

  • Jenna says:

    Peripatetic zero hours instrumental and singing teachers generally get a rough deal. Employers charging parents a lot, not passing this down to teachers. One school that I have since left because of this – sent a letter to parents increasing hourly rate and mentioned the exceptional peri teachers and then sent us a letter telling us our pay is frozen indefinitely.

  • Duncan says:

    The sad reality of this ruling is that schools will prioritise their budgets and employ fewer part-time teachers. Music will probably be at the top of the cuts.

    • Dragonetti says:

      Anyone remember the court ruling in the 80s which deemed charging in schools for peri music lessons illegal?
      End result lots of tuition taken out of school and huge fees charged to parents anyway via music centres and tuition hubs. No benefits to the peris apart from same old instability and then out of school hours teaching which got in the way of life in general and gigs in particular.
      The people who bring this sort of thing to general attention are always sincere, well-meaning folk but nothing good ever comes of it long term!

  • No to war says:

    Can someone help me to understand how this may help the self employed teachers working privately please

    • Simpson says:

      It won’t, the judgment pertains to “occasional workers” on a permanent yearly employment contract. It will help no one, as I see it, because the fundamental is that if one works, one gets paid, and if one doesn’t, there is no pay. Any other distorted trick will ultimately be overall economically detrimental. Following this case, I suspect there won’t be permanent yearly contracts, but temporary with an option to renew? I am hypothesizing, I know nothing of the labor laws in the UK. The Court may have literally and textually interpreted the relevant statute, but the result of paying an occasional worker for leave more than the full time workers would receive seems…odd. If this plaintiff plans to have an employer in the future, good luck to her. This ruling may turn out to be detrimental to others as they might get only temporary contracts strictly for the time school is in session.

  • Edd says:

    Does this mean that if I only work 28days a year I never have to go to work

  • LegalBeagle says:

    Bit amiss to not mention the ISM who were the ones that brought this case forward in the first place!

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