Austria
The GPA-DJP services union has won an important court ruling clarifying that overtime should be included in the calculation of holiday and Christmas pay. The case was taken by the union in collaboration with the works council at the Caritas Socialis social care organisation. The outcome benefits not just the 850 employees at Caritas Socialis but around 120000 employees who are covered by the social care sector agreement.
Read more at > GPA-DJP (DE)
A recent court ruling in the Hague has confirmed a European Court of Justice judgement that health workers' holiday pay should include some compensation for payment for any irregular shift work. The ruling is good news for all nurses and carers who work irregular shifts but who have only received basic pay during their annual leave. They can now claim any for any underpayments going back five years. Read more at > NU'91 (NL)
(March 2017) The Supreme Court has ruled that energy company British Gas can no longer appeal against a European Court ruling that holiday pay should take account of earnings based on commission. The case has been supported by public services union Unison and is based on the Working Time Directive. The union challenged British Gas because it restricted holiday pay only to basic pay which penalised workers who received a lot of commission pay. Unison is concerned about the impact of Brexit on this important legislation.
In a case involving a Russian railworker who was dismissed after a one-day strike over pay, the European Court of Human Rights has confirmed that the right to strike falls under the protection of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights as an important aspect of the right to freedom of association. The court based its arguments on conclusions of the International Labour Organisation's supervisory bodies, which take the right to strike as an indispensable corollary of the freedom of association.
