Leave left over - not allowed to carry over but cant take it

SarEl

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

OOOOOOOHHHH!!! I can't wait!!!!

Give me a shout if you want a sidekick when the fun starts!!! (serious offer)

Yes I agree. This wouldn't be law, it would be fun! I know I'm not the only person looking for the right cases - but there's no monopoly (as Stringer et al) shows! Will let you know if we find them! Obviously it's a selective field - this isn't about justice for individuals, so they need to be absolute flyers in terms of case content so they don't get bogged down in details about the case

SarEl

Ps@ zzzLazyDaisy - sorry. There's been a couple of occasions when I wanted to Pm you. You have it turned off and I get why because I don't! But it might be useful to talk about this - you might also have contacts for the right cases. If interested, go to my other forum. You can sign up there without anyone knowing who you are, and PM at leisure! You might even find some fun there, you never know! Site admin are very keen to protect their valued posters. And I'm not poaching. - there's always room for valued advice and nobody has a monopoly on helping people stuck or shafted. I'm sure nobody would think they have.

CruisingSaver

OP your wife's NHS Trust should have an Annual Leave Policy (in bold because there's always some that don't when they should!!) which outlines what happens if staff are unable to take leave due to being off sick.

If the contents of the policy aren't clear or her Trust doesn't have one, then the other suggestions of asking her manager when she can take leave or involving staff side (if a union member) if that doesn't produce the desired response are where I'd go in her position.

I'm a senior manager in the NHS and threads like this make me despair at the capability and lack of basic human decency of some of my fellow managers.

Good luck!

CS

~Loz~

I work for the NHS and a colleague of mine 'lost' her annual leave when she was off sick for 6 months from November to May. She was told her annual leave had to be used towards her graded return!

She was that ashamed for being off that long even though it was genuine that she didn't argue. I think it even mentions it in one of the policies on staffnet.

SarEl

~Loz~ wrote: »

I work for the NHS and a colleague of mine 'lost' her annual leave when she was off sick for 6 months from November to May. She was told her annual leave had to be used towards her graded return!

She was that ashamed for being off that long even though it was genuine that she didn't argue. I think it even mentions it in one of the policies on staffnet.

To be fair, if somone agrees to offset leave against a phased return this may be in their best interests. Genine or not isn't relevant.

zzzLazyDaisy

I agree. That is an option some of my clients used to give to employees returning from a period of extended sick leave - on my advice. It allows the employee to take their time during a phased return to work, gradually building up hours to full-time, without losing money (bearing in mind that an employer allowing a phased return, does not have to pay normal salary during the period of part-time working, which can leave the employee in financial difficulties).

[Deleted User]

~Loz~ wrote: »

I work for the NHS and a colleague of mine 'lost' her annual leave when she was off sick for 6 months from November to May. She was told her annual leave had to be used towards her graded return!

She was that ashamed for being off that long even though it was genuine that she didn't argue. I think it even mentions it in one of the policies on staffnet.

Exactly what happens. Departments make the rules up themselves and bully people into it like this.

[Deleted User]

SarEl wrote: »

To be fair, if somone agrees to offset leave against a phased return this may be in their best interests. Genine or not isn't relevant.

Agreed or forced though?

SarEl

[quote=[Deleted User];57888213]Agreed or forced though?[/QUOTE]

The word "no" is available to everyone. If they choose not to use it, for whatever reason, that is still a choice. Sorry, but the law is very clear that if people do not "argue", to quote the poster, then they have accepted.

And as zzzLazyDaisy has said, there are actually very powerful arguments for doinge exactly this. A phased reurn either continues to wrack up sick leave, or is based on a reduced wage for reduced hours. It is one or the other - you do not get full pay unless you are working or accounting for your full hours. Reduced pay is not an option for most people. And further increasing sickness absence is also not an option for many people when (a) these are used in redundancy processes and/or (b) may result in sickness absence processes. No public sector employer is the pushover that some people think they are - as you have shown. I can see exactly why she would advise clients to consider this an option.

[Deleted User]

Well, nothing resolved here yet. I can see it coming to a head soon.

To make matters worse, and I can see this being hassle, wife is pregnant, due july. Planning to have a year off afterwards.

I can see them telling her that all leave for year april 2012-april 2013 has got to be taken in the year (i.e. before july 2012).

Can they do that? Surely they've got to allow some carry over of leave?

So current situation is that theres leave left to be used by april 2012 which they have been unable to schedule. And then potentially another whole years they will expect her to take before july 2012.

OK. Fair enough - it would be nice to take as leave a few weeks before and then start actual maternity as close to possible but wife doesnt want to take 8 weeks off before (which is what may be leave accrued at this point).

Much better to take some and then carry over to tag onto end of maternity leave.

Its getting complicated..... :-(