Sick leave + holiday pay - yes you can

fitzroy

I haven't started this thread as a "for" and "against" discussion but to update the information which appears in various posts in at least one other thread and which is misleading to members.

In January 2009 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on this and, because they had to follow that ruling, the House of Lords ruled on it June 2009. The ECJ ruling can be found at www.curia.europa.eu/jurisp it dealt with two cases one from the U.K (Stringer and Others v. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Case No. C-520/06 and one from Germany, Schultz-Hoff v. Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund Case no. C-350/06). The two cases were joined because they dealt with the same matter. When you get into the website you will need the case numbers to pull up the printed rulings and click on the English translation.

I don't have to hand the link to the House of Lords and the Law Lords ruling on the Stringer case but it's easy to find as I've given the date and names of the parties. Both Judgments are very long (the House of Lords is 35 pages) and it deals with just about any question you may have on this matter.

A few pointers: employees who are absent by reason of sickness are entitled to paid annual leave during periods of sickness absence.

An employer can have a policy whereby employees are not permitted to take annual leave whilst the employee is on sick leave. The proviso is that the employee must be able to take the annual leave one way or another and this may include allowing him to carry it over and take it in the next leave year.

An employee who has been off for the whole or part of the leave year and who has, because he has been off sick, not been able to take any/all of his paid annual leave will not lose it on the dawning of a new leave year. He must be permitted to carry it over and take it in the next leave year.

On termination of employment an employee must be paid in lieu of paid annual leave that he has not taken because he has been on sick leave for the whole of or part of the leave year and which has been the very reason why he had not been able to take his annual leave.

Both Judgments deal with a greal deal more e.g calculation of holiday pay due, which forum to bring a claim in if employer refuses to allow holiday leave or allowance in lieu on termination.

I would recommend you print and read the Judgments in short bites as there is a lot to take in on a computer screen especially for people who are on sick leave and/or fatigued etc.

taylor21_2

100% agree - A few years ago I worked for a welln know high street chain who are no longer trading.

On taking over I was quickly made aware of a lady that had been on LTS for 5 years. Due to slipping under the net/bad previous management(whatever) she had never been dealt with properly.

I started the ball rolling and after several meeting, obtaining medical records etc, it quickly became evident that this lady was not well enough to work and it was highly unlikely that she would improve and she was asked to leave on the grounds of il health.

She received a nice sum as she had a lot of holiday accrued over the five years and whilst she was sad that we were finally cutting ties, she was pleased that she had a lovely sum of money to enhance her life for a while.

McKneff

Thanks for all that, friend of mine has a dispute going on so will pass it on.