On 10 April 2026, Employment Judge George Alliott handed down what may be the largest untaken-holiday award in ET history. Mossadek “Moss” Ageli, a 74-year-old property manager, was awarded £392,000 for 827 days of annual leave accumulated over more than 25 years at Sabtina Limited, a Libyan-owned property firm. A further £105,560 followed for unfair dismissal (including a £14,070 basic award), bringing the total to approximately £497,560.
The Facts
Ageli joined Sabtina in 1987 as deputy managing director. For the first two years he and his PA were the only full-time staff; no holiday was taken at all. Between 1988 and 1996, some 200 holiday requests were refused by the directors. By 1998, an agreement was formalised: untaken entitlement would roll forward each year and, “as and when required,” Ageli would receive payment in lieu. Two lump payments followed — £15,000 in 2001 and £15,000 in 2004 — but the bulk of the liability continued to accrue.
His contractual entitlement was 45 days per year. After a board reshuffle in May 2022, new directors gradually stripped his duties and, in March 2024, dismissed him by email for “gross misconduct” — without particulars, investigation, or appeal. The Tribunal found that Sabtina “did not have a genuine belief” in the misconduct and had conducted no reasonable investigation.
The Calculation
Try the numbers yourself. The calculator below is pre-loaded with approximate Ageli figures (salary estimated from the £392,000 / 827-day ratio; 45-day entitlement; ~13 days taken per year on average; £30,000 already paid in lieu).
Click Ageli v Sabtina (2026) in the preset bar to load the case figures, or enter your own. The workings panel on the right shows each step.
The Legal Takeaway
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (as amended from 1 January 2024), the four-week EU-derived entitlement carries over for up to 18 months if the employer fails to facilitate leave or the worker is on sick leave. But Ageli’s award went far beyond that statutory backstop: the Tribunal enforced the contractual agreement to roll forward leave indefinitely. Where an employer has agreed — expressly or by long-standing custom — to bank untaken days, the liability crystallises on termination regardless of the statutory carry-over caps.
For employers, the message is plain: unmanaged leave accrual is a balance-sheet time bomb. For employees denied leave year after year, Ageli confirms that the debt does not simply evaporate.