Have I lost my holidays

mightymole

butler_helen wrote: »

yes, although in theory the OP would have to have had 3 days sick (min before docs note signing them off)
manager!), then had 3 days off without a doctors note, then been signed off by the doctor...

doctors won't normally give a note until after 7 days have elapsed as the 1st 7 days are self certificating.

if they do give for 3 days most doctors will charge a fee

Savvy_Sue

SomeBozo wrote: »

This rule is applied to people at work and those off sick, so its fair.

I guess the apparent unfairness is that employees rarely know these things if they're off sick long-term. Plus, if you're actually ill long-term, a lot of people wouldn't think of booking holiday and coming off the sick.

Ewarwoowar2

beccybobeccy wrote: »

actually you would be entitled to the statutory minimum holiday of 168 hours whether you were off sick or not. This is working time regulations.
This includes Bank Hols so if you were paid sick pay for a time that included bank hols you would need to deduct that amount of hours from the 168.
Pre-booked holidays that you didn't take should also be deducted from this figure.

Hope this helps

That's not right. At present, as the law stands, if you've been on sick leave for an entire year you're not entitled to take holidays or carry holiday over, unless it says so in your contract of employment.

A worker on long term sick leave cannot designate part of that leave as paid annual leave under regulation 13 of the WTR and that, if the worker has been on long term sick leave and unable to work at all in a particular leave year they will not have any entitlement to holiday pay in that year. A worker who has been dismissed, having been on sick leave since the start of the annual leave year, will have no entitlement to leave under regulation 13 and therefore cannot claim payment in lieu of untaken holiday under regulation 14 of the WTR. One grey area in particular remains in relation to a worker who is on sick leave for part only of the leave year.

Although this is the law as it currently stands, it's all a bit up in the air because the issue has been referred to the European courts for a ruling.

So to answer the OP - check your contract of employment. Unless it states you're allowed to carry leave over, you can't.

If your contract states that carrying over holiday is at their discretion (which, in your case, they've chosen not to exercise) you could claim disability discrimination if other people not on long term sick leave have been allowed to carry holidays over.

Ewarwoowar2

SomeBozo wrote: »

It sound rights to me. When you are off sick you still accrue holidays like anyone else. But you have to take them in the leave year like everyone else.

This rule is applied to people at work and those off sick, so its fair.

Bozo

No you don't. If you're off sick for a full holiday year, you don't accrue holiday under the WTD

Savvy_Sue

In the OP's case, they weren't off sick for the whole holiday year, just most of it. So it sounds to me as if, had they realised, they could have booked some holiday, asked the GP to sign them off and back on again, and had some holiday pay. Maybe.

Where I work, we had someone off sick for 3 months, after which their pay was going to drop to half pay if they didn't come back. They decided to book a fortnight's leave and return after that. But then, they had the leave available, and considered they would be fit to return after that. Obviously not all employers are that flexible about booking holidays.

markyb33

it really depends:
1) were you paid for the time you were off sick ? if so its unlikely you will be paid sick pay
2) if you were not paid for the sickness then you should definately be due some holiday pay.

butmummac

Thanks for your help everyone, some very clever people out there!!

ibleedred

I bet you would get holidays due for the amount of time you worked?

It would be crazy if people go sign off sick and claim holiday pay at the end of the year as well? surely you work to accrue your holidays through the year?

alm721

Cant see a doctor being happy to sign you off from being sick and then say you are sick again when you've taken you're holiday? Also I believe that unless you're contract syas different you're stuffed really. Im sure you would accrue the hols but unless you can carry them over then you will have lost them.

needaspirin

Holiday entitlement when a worker is off sick


The Court of Appeal has decided that, under the Working Time Regulations 1998, a worker on long-term sick leave may not continue to accrue statutory holiday for all the time s/he is off sick. The Court of Appeal did not define 'long-term', though this case related to a worker who had been off sick for more than a year. This decision means that:-
• if a worker has been off sick for a whole leave year or more, s/he will not accrue any holiday pay for that leave year, even though s/he remains a worker. The Court also decided that if a worker who has been off sick for a whole leave year is dismissed, there will be no statutory holiday pay owing to her/him for that leave year since s/he had not accrued statutory holiday during that year
• if a worker has been on long-term sick leave lasting less than one year, the situation regarding her/his holiday pay entitlement is not clear, because this situation has not been decided by the courts. The Working Time Regulations 1998 make no provision for holiday to accrue pro rata depending on how long a worker has been off sick, so it could be argued that holiday pay entitlement should therefore not be calculated on a daily basis. However, it may be the case that an employer will argue that a worker who has been off sick for, say, three months, should not accrue holiday pay for those three months

Can untaken holiday be carried over from one leave year to the next

If an employee is unable to take all her/his holiday entitlement in one year, her/his contract may allow her/him to carry over days of contractual holiday to the following year. Days of statutory holiday cannot be carried over. However, from 1 October 2007, the additional holiday only (that is the extra 0.8 of a week, or the extra 1.6 weeks from 1 April 2009) can be carried over to the following leave year.