Worker who couldn’t take time off for 25 years awarded $800,000
MELBOURNE: A property manager has won almost $800,000 in unused holiday pay.
Mossadek Ageli was repeatedly denied requests for annual leave because his company was short-staffed, and agreed to be paid for his allotted days instead, a tribunal heard.
After 25 years of work, he was owed for 827 days of annual leave, amounting to $794,000.
In addition to the compensation for the unused holiday days, Mr Ageli also won $210,000 as part of an unfair dismissal case at Watford Employment Tribunal.
He joined Sabtina Ltd, a Libyan-owned property management firm, as deputy managing director in 1987 before he became commercial manager. He worked for the firm in London and Milton Keynes, and originally started with 30 days of holiday a year.
Between 1987 and 1989, Mr Ageli took no holiday days because only he and his personal assistant were full-time employees and needed to be working constantly for the company to function.
Between 1988 and 1996, he had 200 days of holiday refused by the directors. His holiday entitlement was raised from 30 to 45 days a year in 1996.
In 1998, Mr Ageli realised that he would not be able to take holiday with the company, and agreed to be paid for the days instead.
He told the tribunal: “When it almost became the norm that holidays were difficult to have, I wrote to the non-resident managing director of [Sabtina], who was also the managing director of the parent company in Libya.
“I requested that, as and when required, I receive payment in lieu of unutilised holidays because of the circumstances of the company. The managing director agreed and signed the document.
“After years of doing this, it was agreed that there was no need to send any future paperwork for approval or denial and I simply kept a record of my holiday entitlement.”
He described how he had obtained permission for the agreement with the company’s owners and did not secure the payments independently even though it was in his power to do so.
He said: “[Sabtina] does not have a pension scheme for the employees, and both myself and my PA were saving the holidays we could not have for when needed or at retirement.
“I was sole signatory for the company for a period exceeding 20 years and could have signed off payments for me and also my PA each year when we could not utilise the holidays. However, I did not do that even though it was within my remit to execute. I was relying on receiving these payments.”
In both 2001 and 2004, he was paid $30,000 in lieu of holiday, showing that the agreement was in place, but it was agreed that he would not need to take the money each year as it would roll over.
This agreement was in place for decades, with Mr Ageli giving up holiday in return for extra pay, but in May 2022 the board of directors was replaced.
The new directors began reducing Mr Ageli’s role and in March 2024 he received an email firing him for gross misconduct, with the director claiming he had talked to Mr Ageli about his conduct before, but it had not improved.
Mr Ageli was also informed that he would not be paid for the 827 unpaid holiday days he had accrued since 1998, which totalled $794,000. He denied the claims of gross misconduct, and complained that he had not been allowed to appeal against the decision.
The decision to dismiss him was upheld and Mr Ageli took Sabtina to an employment tribunal, where Employment Judge George Alliott agreed he had been mistreated by having his holiday pay withheld.
The tribunal ordered the company to pay the full amount of holiday pay owed, as well as compensation of £91,490 for unfair dismissal and a basic award of £14,070.
The judge said: “I find that it was agreed between [Mr Ageli] and [Sabtina] that, with effect from the start of his employment, any unused holiday would be recorded and any unused entitlement would roll forward each year.
“I find that it was agreed between [Mr Ageli] and [Sabtina] that he would be paid for his holiday as and when needed or at the end of his employment.”
The judge also found that Sabtina did not have a “genuine belief” that Mr Ageli had committed gross misconduct, adding: “I find this because [Sabtina] was unwilling or unable to provide [Mr Ageli] with reasons for his dismissal shortly after he, in effect, asked for them.
“I find that [Mr Ageli’s] dismissal was clearly procedurally unfair in that he was not notified of the charges against him, was not notified of the evidence against him, was not given an opportunity to represent himself at a disciplinary hearing and was not afforded an appeal.”
Sabtina Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Libyan Foreign Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Libyan Investment Authority.
