A council worker is to be paid more than £5,000 in compensation after successfully taking his claim to an employment tribunal.

Gully operative William Pye had worked for Douglas Council for 36 years.

But a holiday to Cyprus just before its borders shut last year left him out of pocket.

An employment tribunal ordered Douglas Council to pay him more than £5,000 after finding he had suffered unlawful deductions from his salary.

Mr Pye had been receiving sick pay after a holiday to Cyprus saw him stranded in the country for three months due to coronavirus restrictions.

Despite obtaining sick notes from his doctor, the council stopped paying him as it attempted to claw back what it alleged was overpayment of wages.

A three-day hearing was told Mr Pye’s trip to Cyprus in March last year was not unusual as he visited the country on holiday each year.

He regularly brought back his 86-year-old mother who spent winters in Cyprus and summers in the Isle of Man.

Mr Pye left the island on March 13 and continued onwards from Liverpool to Larnaca the following day. He had booked a return flight from Cyprus on March 24 and was due to return to work on March 31.

But the day after he had arrived in Cyprus, the Cypriot government announced emergency powers to fight Covid-19.

This ultimately prevented him leaving Cyprus until some 14 weeks later on July 1 and he finally got back to the Isle of Man on July 2, where he was instructed to self-isolate for a further two weeks.

The council had argued the decision to go on holiday was reckless but a report concluded there was no official warning from the Manx government that travelling at that time could have an impact on pay.

Notes from his doctor entitled Mr Pye to sick pay equal to his normal pay during his time off work. However, the council stopped this on July 5.

The authority was attempting to recoup money paid to Mr Pye at a rate of £100 per week.

This was ruled to be an unlawful decision under the Employment Act 2006, with Mr Pye suffering deductions of more than £,3,500.

A report found Mr Pye had been certified as a vulnerable person under the government’s emergency powers, part of the reason for him not reporting for work between March 31 and July 20.

Four weeks’ salary was also awarded to the complainant as part of the compensation package, meaning a final sum of £5,208.54.

The tribunal said its findings could have a wider significance as they raised important points of principle relating to the changed working environment caused by Covid-19 as it developed during 2020.