No-Deal Brexit: what it means for your paid holidays

A rapidly-fading suntan might be all that is left of your summer holiday.

But many of us wouldn’t have paid holidays at all if it wasn’t for EU rules – and the court that backs them up.

And now Boris Johnson is threatening to throw those rights away.

What's the EU got to do with my holidays?

Before 1998, many people got paid holidays largely thanks to being members of unions that negotiated them.

But others had no right to time off and no right to be paid for it.

Six million workers gained more days of paid leave when the Working Time Regulations were introduced to bring the UK into line with new EU rules.

Two million mostly female part-time workers had previously had no paid leave at all.

Now you're entitled to 5.6 weeks, or the equivalent if you work part-time.

EU courts protect your rights

The government tried to be slippery. It said only those with 13 weeks’ service would be entitled to holiday pay.

But the European Court of Justice (ECJ) put a stop to that (after a trade union stepped in). It said workers built up holiday pay from day one.

Some employers tried to be slippery and roll holiday pay up into their workers’ wages. The ECJ said “ no ”, (though the practice hasn’t completely disappeared).

And when employers tried to pay workers a reduced basic rate, not their normal wages, again the ECJ intervened .

No-deal Brexit puts all this at risk

All this could be thrown away after Boris Johnson made it clear that he doesn’t want a level-playing field on workers’ rights between the UK and EU.

This paves the way for key rights, such as paid holiday, to be ditched or diluted. And it could leave millions of people denied their summer weeks in the sun.

That’s why we support all democratic efforts to block a no-deal Brexit – and a hard Tory Brexit deal.

Because we think this government is wilfully aiming for a Brexit outcome that would be devastating for working people.