What if one employee quietly stopped taking holidays years ago, and no one joined the dots?

The case of Ageli v Sabtina Limited lands as employers face tighter scrutiny over holiday record-keeping duties. If your process relies on managers ‘just knowing’ when people took leave, you may have a governance problem hidden within an administrative process.

What happened?

Mr Ageli worked for Sabtina Limited from 1987 in a senior role. His holiday entitlement was thirty days a year, rising to forty-five days. The business often refused his leave due to staffing pressures. Over time, both sides treated unused leave as something that could be carried forward and paid later. By the time his employer dismissed him in March 2024, he had accrued 827.25 days of untaken leave.

What did the Tribunal decide?

The Tribunal found the dismissal unfair and, critically, that the employer had failed to pay accrued holiday. It awarded £391,942.77 for unpaid leave, alongside a basic award of £14,070 and a compensatory award of £91,489.73.

Why did it reach that decision?

The principle is simple. Workers must have a real opportunity to take paid annual leave. If the employer prevents this, entitlement does not evaporate; it carries forward.

Here, the employer relied on an informal arrangement but never controlled or resolved it. Over the decades, policy, practice and records drifted apart. The Tribunal treated that failure as the employer’s responsibility, not the employee’s choice. Payment followed the entitlement that had effectively been preserved and accumulated.

What should you do now?

• Treat holiday as a governance issue, not administrative, and require clear reporting to senior leadership.
• Reconcile Human Resources and payroll data so you can demonstrate entitlement, leave taken and pay applied together.
• Define and document how you handle carrying over holiday, then enforce it.
• Audit historic exposure, especially for long‑serving or senior staff who take limited leave.
• Ensure records meet the new duty from Monday 6th April 2026 and can prove, not assert, compliance.

Source: Mr_Mohamed__Ageli_v_Sabtina_Limited_6009382.2024_Reserved_Judgment