Shantha David

UNISON

Leading the fight for part-time, low-paid employees, UNISON legal officer Shantha David is set to take that battle to a number of councils and organisations across the UK this year following on from recent wins for millions of workers.

At the end of 2018, David negotiated a £6m settlement in connection with unpaid annual leave for over 5,000 term-time workers employed by the Royal Borough of Greenwich schools following a six-year legal battle. A mathematical error had left caterers, cleaners and teaching assistants, jobs held mostly by women, receiving three-to-five fewer paid days of annual leave per year.

In 2019, another one of David’s victories came in the Court of Appeal defending Lesley Brazel, a term-time music teacher at a private school, in the case Harpur Trust v Brazel which secured the legal position that ‘term-time’ workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks paid annual leave, regardless of whether they are given work or paid for only parts of the year.