British Airways Plc v Williams and Others: SC 17 Oct 2012

The claimants, airline pilots, and the company disputed the application of the 1998 Regulations to their employment. They sought pay for their annual leave made up of three elements: a proportionate part of the fixed annual sum paid for their services, a supplementary payment which varied according to the time spent flying, and thirdly an allowance in respect of time spent away from base, each element of which was separately and specifically remunerated when not on leave. The Court had previously referred a question to the ECJ, and having receved that decision now again disputed the meaing of the Agreements. The general provisions provided methods of calculating a week’s pay with and without ‘normal working hours’ and otherwise, but those framed for the claimants were silent.
Held: The claims were to be remitted to the Employment Tribunal for further consideration of the appropriate payments to be made to the pilots in respect of the periods of paid annual leave in issue. Similar orders were made with respect to the ‘Time Away from Base allowance’ as claimed by the employees.

Lord Hope, Deputy President, Lord Walker, Lord Mance, Lord Clarke, Lord Sumption
[2012] UKSC 43, [2012] WLR(D) 277, UKSC 2009/0042, [2013] 1 CMLR 31, [2013] 1 All ER 443, [2012] IRLR 1014, [2012] ICR 1375
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, WLRD
The Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004 4, Directive 93/104/EC, Working Time Regulations 1998 (SI 1998 No. 1833)
England and Wales
Citing:
CitedParviainen v Finnair Oyj ECJ 1-Jul-2010
ECJ Social policy – Directive 92/85/EEC – Protection of the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding – Articles 5(2) and 11(1) – Worker . .
At ECJWilliams And Others v British Airways Plc ECJ 16-Jun-2011
ECJ (Opinion) Working conditions – Organisation of working time – Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC – Right to paid annual leave – Extent of the obligations provided for by that directive in respect of the nature . .
Reference to ECJBritish Airways Plc v Williams and Others SC 24-Mar-2010
The court was asked as to the calculation of annual leave pay for crew members in civil aviation under the Regulations. The company argued that it was based on the fixed annual remuneration, and the pilots argued that it should include other . .
CitedDominguez v Prefect of the Central Region (Social Policy) ECJ 24-Jan-2012
ECJ Social policy – Directive 2003/88/EC – Article 7 – Right to paid annual leave – Precondition for entitlement imposed by national rules – Absence of the worker – Length of the leave entitlement based on the . .
CitedCriminal Proceedings Against Kolpinghuis Nijmegen Bv ECJ 8-Oct-1987
Wherever the provisions of a directive appear, as far as their subject-matter is concerned, to be unconditional and sufficiently precise, those provisions may be relied upon by an individual against the state where that state fails to implement the . .
CitedCriminal proceedings against Arcaro ECJ 26-Sep-1996
ECJ 1. Where, under the procedure provided for by Article 177 of the Treaty, questions are formulated imprecisely, the Court may extract from all the information provided by the national court and from the . .
CitedPfeiffer v Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, Kreisverband Waldshut eV (1) ECJ 5-Oct-2004
pfeiffer_deutchesrotesreuzECJ102004
ECJ Reference for a preliminary ruling: Arbeitsgericht Lorrach – Germany. Social policy – Protection of the health and safety of workers – Directive 93/104/EC – Scope – Emergency workers in attendance in . .

Cited by:
CitedBear Scotland Limited v Fulton, and similar EAT 4-Nov-2014
EAT WORKING TIME REGULATIONS: HOLIDAY PAY – DAMAGES FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT – UNLAWFUL DEDUCTION FROM WAGES
The EAT held that Article 7 of the Working Time Directive is to be interpreted such that payments . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, European

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.464931