Are company messing about with sickness/holidays?

emmie1234

Hiya, just wondering if someone on here may be able to help out my sister in law.

SIL is pregnant and is currently off sick as she has burst her ear drum and it has got infected, doctor has given her an inital sick note for two weeks.

She sent the sick note into her employer and informed them that she had a days holiday booked this week, could they make sure that this is deleted on their computer as she is sick not on holiday. Employer has told her she will not be able to have her days' holiday back. Also, SIL thinks sickness will probably have to be extended for another week or so after this note runs out, as she is still in a lot of pain, stuff ouzing out of her ear, she actually can't hear anything out of it. She has got a week's holiday booked for the week after next, being as she will probably still be off sick, she again asked her employer to sort the holidays out for her, they refused and said they won't cancel the holiday its company policy. When she told me I was fuming...... Surely this can't be right? Is there some kind of employment law against this kind of thing.

Sis in law has spoken to acas and they don't seem to be able to help. Any Ideas?

kelloggs36

I don't know about the law but any company I have worked for have cancelled holiday if you are sick and can prove it! It seems that they are being particularly harsh. Surely if she hasn't taken the holiday yet she can just cancel it, and then get a sick note to cover it? Surely she can change her mind about taking the holiday if she weren't sick?

Sugar_Coated_Owl

I'm pretty sure the planned holiday should go through as sickness and the holiday made available to take later on when she returns to work. The sick note should override any planned holiday. You can't be signed off sick and on holiday.

jobbingmusician

From the CAB site:

You are sick while on holiday

The rules about how you are treated if you are sick when you are meant to be on holiday are complicated. You should seek the help of an experienced adviser.
If you are sick when you are meant to be on holiday you should seek the help of an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.



Good luck with this one

Savvy_Sue

It could depend on the company's policy. Do they give your SIL full pay while she's on sick leave? If they only pay SSP, and that's all they pay while she's signed off, then she definitely SHOULD get the holiday made available to her afterwards. If they give full pay, then there may be an element of discretion in it.

timbellina

A few years ago, I took two weeks off over Christmas, and on 26th December, went down with a flu bug that laid me low for the rest of my holiday. Much to my disgust, I was up and about some 24 hours before I was due back at work. Was I able to cancel my holiday and take the time off as sick leave? Was I dingos! It was "just tough". I expect to take sick leave from work when I'm sick, and the other side to that coin is that if I get sick while I was on holiday, then I simply have to put up with it.

Having said which, Sue is right - where there's a pay differential, then the company is no longer paying for your SIL's sick day; and she should be able to re-take the day later.

If she's on full pay, however, it gets more interesting. Do her terms and conditions allow her to cancel leave before it's taken? In my case, I was already on leave when I became sick. If I'd gotten sick before I went away; I might (and this is a real "might") have cancelled my leave and put in the sick note. I suspect that this would have been followed by an immediate change in the terms and conditions of everyone in the office which would not have made me very popular.

And SIL has also told her employer that she expects to be off an extra week - antibiotics are pretty good these days; even if she expected to be off, it probably wasn't a good idea to announce it in advance.....

I'd say "good luck with it, but don't expect too much",. to be honest. Sounds like she's on a loser, really.

Tim