A Southampton employment tribunal has awarded a temporary driver seven days of holiday pay from a transport and industrial agency in a dispute over whether the driver had a right to several weeks of such compensation.

In awarding driver Andy Dobson the £630, covering seven days from March 2004 to October 2004, the tribunal ruled he had waited too long to claim holiday pay from previous years and therefore was not entitled to additional compensation.

Following the brief tribunal hearing on 17 June, Dobson acknowledged his disappointment, saying that the agency, Rapier, had merely received “a slap on the wrist”.

Rapier director Tim Dacombe told Recruiter he was “ecstatic” over the ruling.

Dacombe described Dobson’s claim as “spurious”, and said the company had never denied the driver his holiday pay. In fact, Dobson had already taken three of 10 days’ holiday pay he was due for 2004 before leaving the company, and simply had not asked for the rest of it, Dacombe said.

Dobson said he did not request holiday pay for the year before at the appropriate time because he did not realise he could. Dacombe pointed out that seeking holiday pay is the worker’s responsibility.

Sean Lavin, employment partner at law firm Macfarlanes, confirmed that Rapier was not required by law to advise Dobson. “There is no general duty under the Working Time Regulations to tell employees their rights. Employees will always be able to claim for untaken statutory holiday in the year they leave employment but holiday from earlier years cannot usually be carried over,” he said.