help re finishing work due to ill health and holidays owed

brians_daughter

hi i am posting for someone i work with who is too scared to post! i have also posted on the employment forum too..but wasnt sure where best to post as there are redundancies happening at work also

He has been off work sick 3 months - all legitimately he isnt pulling the wool so to speak. He has been seeing a specialist this week who said due to his job ie driving a lot he will be unlikely to return for the next 8-12 weeks until his new med kicks in, and then it is simply trial and error as to if the treatment works.

His employer has been out to se him some weeks ago and requested pernmission to contact GP, he had no issues with this but pointed out it may be more beneficial to wait til after seen specialist then GP will be better informed.

work have contacted him today to ask him to send the GP request form to HR which he did anyway yesterday knowing he was going to se specialist today.

There is a very strong chance work will finish him on grounds of incapability to do his job (Dont know if this is relevant his illness is covered by the disability discrimination act and he made the employer aware of his condition in interview and on the HR forms when he started etc)

The question is what will happen to his holiday pay? He is on 1/2 pay from work already and expects them to finish him the beigining of August, as it takes 4-6 weeks for docs report to be available and for HR to re-visit him

Will he get his holiday pay at full rate ie if he is entitled to 30 days pa and finishes in august and has taken no holidays so far would he get 7/12 th of his entitlement paid out along with his last months wage at 1/2 pay?

And can he stop them finishing him on grounds of incapability if doc states he should make full recovery within x amount of months if right treatment is sought?

Thanks, he is in a right state about it so i said i would ask for him

cattie

I'm not certain about your friend but know when I was dismissed from work after being ill for a few months & no indication of when, if ever, I would be able to return, I never received any holiday pay. Apparently no holiday pay is earned/due when you are off sick from work.

I don't know if this was particular to my company, who were not overly generous to employee's or if it's standard employment law.

kateab

Wasn't there a case in the courts just last week that decided you DO accrue holiday pay whilst on sick leave?

kateab

liney

http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/06/10/51022/house-of-lords-rules-holiday-pay-can-be-accrued-while-on-sick-leave.html

Yes he accrues holiday.

brians_daughter

thank you so much. He will be able to at least have a 'cushion' if they do finish him, he could do other roles in the business but they arent for offering them to him as it stands. In our company we do accrue hols whilst off sick i have checked my contract so assume his to be the same, although have urged him to check his own.

Spirit_2

The European court of Justice and more recently the House of Lords has ruled that holiday accues during sick leave and that failure to pay outstanding leave is an unlawful deduction. The thing that is variable is that no ruling was made on the rate at which it accrues - so your friend may only accrue 7/12 of 5.6 weeks of holiday (statutory holiday including bank holidays) rather than at his contractual holidays of 6 weeks.

The other implication is that his employer could designate that he takes his holiday whilst off sick, perhaps during his notice period.

If that is the case he comes of sick leave/sick pay for that period and goes onto holiday and holiday pay.

Good Luck

Spirit

LittleVoice

Spirit wrote: »

The other implication is that his employer could designate that he takes his holiday whilst off sick, perhaps during his notice period.

And of course they would have to give notice of the requirement to take holiday - twice the length of the holiday to be taken.

getmore4less

LittleVoice wrote: »

And of course they would have to give notice of the requirement to take holiday - twice the length of the holiday to be taken.

Where does this requirement come from?

getmore4less

Spirit wrote: »

The European court of Justice and more recently the House of Lords has ruled that holiday accues during sick leave and that failure to pay outstanding leave is an unlawful deduction. The thing that is variable is that no ruling was made on the rate at which it accrues - so your friend may only accrue 7/12 of 5.6 weeks of holiday (statutory holiday including bank holidays) rather than at his contractual holidays of 6 weeks.

The other implication is that his employer could designate that he takes his holiday whilst off sick, perhaps during his notice period.

If that is the case he comes of sick leave/sick pay for that period and goes onto holiday and holiday pay.

Good Luck

Spirit

IN most cases the Holiday will be n days + bank holidays so only the n days accru while working/sick, the bank holidays just get paid

Not sure how the value of the accrued days would work if the sick policy id not full pay.

Can an employer make you use holiday while sick, I don't know any references?

liney

getmore4less wrote: »

IN most cases the Holiday will be n days + bank holidays so only the n days accru while working/sick, the bank holidays just get paid

Not sure how the value of the accrued days would work if the sick policy id not full pay.

Can an employer make you use holiday while sick, I don't know any references?

You can't be on holiday and on the sick at the same time, so if you are signed off they cannot force you to take holiday instead of SSP/sick pay.

If holidays are accrued when on sick in the same way as they are on maternity, then Bank Holidays will be added to the accrual as being off sick you didn't have the opportunity to take them.

LittleVoice

getmore4less wrote: »

Where does this requirement come from?

Working Time regulations.