Sick leave and holidays

*Scarlett

Hi all

I have a question about sick leave and pre booked annual leave from work.

I recently had to take time off work for an emergency appendicitis operation. The first day of absence was a working day - so a sick day. I then had the surgery the next day.

The following week I had already booked as annual leave so was not rostered to work and was due to return to work the next Monday. I was in contact with my manager and advised that I would not be able to return on this date so the whole period was recorded as sick leave.

I was rostered to work the week after this and 2.5 days of the following week before having annual leave again up until January.

My doctor has given me a cert for a further 4 weeks.

My question is will I have lost this annual leave? (Holiday period runs from January)

The company policy appears to be that leave can only be carried over in exceptional circumstances and I don't know if this qualifies.

The company uses the Bradford scale thing for absence so if I was to ask them to use my leave days to cover my absence this is obviously going to show quite badly on this.

I know I will have to discuss all of this with my manager when I return to work but if anyone has any advice or experience on this situatio it would be much appreciated.

skintandscared_2

There is a very recent thread here about sick leave and holiday entitlement.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3665647

The holiday you had booked should be reimbursed to you as the absence is now recorded as sick leave. You are entitled to carry over ALL unused holiday during your period of sick leave, even if that crosses over into the next "year's" holiday. You also still accrue holiday while off sick.

We have an employee in their fourth year of sick leave and holiday still accruing at 28 days per year...

Googlewhacker

skintandscared wrote: »

There is a very recent thread here about sick leave and holiday entitlement.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3665647

The holiday you had booked should be reimbursed to you as the absence is now recorded as sick leave. You are entitled to carry over ALL unused holiday during your period of sick leave, even if that crosses over into the next "year's" holiday. You also still accrue holiday while off sick.

We have an employee in their fourth year of sick leave and holiday still accruing at 28 days per year...

Why have you not gone through capability procedures? 4 years is overly generous whatever the reason.

getmore4less

skintandscared wrote: »

There is a very recent thread here about sick leave and holiday entitlement.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3665647

The holiday you had booked should be reimbursed to you as the absence is now recorded as sick leave. You are entitled to carry over ALL unused holiday during your period of sick leave, even if that crosses over into the next "year's" holiday. You also still accrue holiday while off sick.

We have an employee in their fourth year of sick leave and holiday still accruing at 28 days per year...

Don't forget that you don't accrue holiday while on holiday so when these peope return and take the holiday their allowance for that year is reduced.

skintandscared_2

Googlewhacker wrote: »

Why have you not gone through capability procedures? 4 years is overly generous whatever the reason.

I'm their secretary, not HR. I have no idea what procedures have or haven't been followed I'm afraid.

We do have a very generous PHI policy here. A friend of mine has been on that for, I believe, about 12 years now and will never return to work. The policy pays 75% of salary until retirement age.

Uncertain

getmore4less wrote: »

Don't forget that you don't accrue holiday while on holiday so when these peope return and take the holiday their allowance for that year is reduced.

I would imagine I have a greater chance of winning the lottery than a person who has been off for four years returning to their job!

Googlewhacker
Why have you not gone through capability procedures? 4 years is overly generous whatever the reason.

This presumably pre-dates the Stringer judgement. It was not uncommon in some fields to keep a loyal person who had no chance of returning on the books as it made little difference and seemed "kinder". Obviously now there is a cost but not everything comes down to money.

Googlewhacker

skintandscared wrote: »

I'm their secretary, not HR. I have no idea what procedures have or haven't been followed I'm afraid.

We do have a very generous PHI policy here. A friend of mine has been on that for, I believe, about 12 years now and will never return to work. The policy pays 75% of salary until retirement age.

Ah fair enough, insurance I guess pays it out so no cost to the company.

Thanks.

Uncertain

skintandscared wrote: »

We do have a very generous PHI policy here. A friend of mine has been on that for, I believe, about 12 years now and will never return to work. The policy pays 75% of salary until retirement age.

Well in that case it is a contractual right and funded by external insurance. As long as doctors satisfy the insurance company that the person is unable to work (usually in their ORIGINAL JOB - as opposed to not able to work at all) the situation will continue to retirement age.

Uncertain

*Scarlett wrote: »

My question is will I have lost this annual leave? (Holiday period runs from January)

The company policy appears to be that leave can only be carried over in exceptional circumstances and I don't know if this qualifies.

To get back to the original question.....

You cannot legally lose holiday as a result of sickness.

If you are unable to take it due to sickness you have to be allowed to carry it over or, in certain circumstances, could be paid for it instead.

This applies to your statutory leave (28 days per year). If you get more leave than this the company can apply any rules they like to the extra days so you may lose them.

*Scarlett

Many thanks for the info regarding this.