On 17 March 2010 the Court of Appeal ruled that a group of maintenance supervisors working for Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust were not entitled to be paid a recruitment and retention premium (RRP) under Agenda for Change (AfC). The maintenance supervisors originally brought an unlawful deduction from a wages claim in the Employment Tribunal, arguing that as qualified maintenance supervisors they were entitled to the RRP along with the qualified maintenance workers they supervised. The Trust disputed this arguing that the RRP applicable to maintenance workers was not applicable to those who supervise them as supervisors were not in short supply. The maintenance workers lost in the Employment Tribunal and appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal and then the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal dismissed the supervisors’ claim, finding that the correct construction of AfC supported the Trust's argument and that although the supervisory role may have required the same qualifications as the maintenance workers, that did not entitle supervisors to the RRP.
The Trust was represented by Mills & Reeve.
For further information about the claim, please see the judgment
here.