Can employees accrue holiday while off sick? Can you prescribe when your staff take holidays?

Earlier this year the European Court of Justice ruled that workers accrue holiday entitlement while on sick leave.

Workers can even elect carry their leave forward into the next year where they are unable to take it due to long-term sickness, having the potential to increase the sick leave costs on return to work or termination of employment.

However, more recently, the Court followed this up with another ruling to the question of what happens if an employee becomes sick while they are on holiday.

The court ruled that employees have the right ask for their holiday leave to be "reallocated."  Again, employees can elect to carry leave forward into the next year where it has been ruined by sickness.

This ruling re-interprets the European Working Time Directive meaning that workers can phone in sick while on holiday - taking the day off sick, rather than counting it against their annual leave entitlement.

The rulings also have implications for employers who usually prescribe when their staff take annual leave, even for business reasons. If it coincides with a period of sickness, workers will now have a right to reschedule their leave.

How to minimise the chances of this

How workers need to prove sickness depends on what is in staff handbooks, or individual policies.
Depending on the business needs documentation can improve working relationships.

The law does not restrict whether employers accept self-certification forms, and doctor's notes for sickness of over 7 days absence, or whether they choose to go further and only grant sick leave where workers produce evidence that sickness rendered them unfit to work.

In this way, policies and staff handbooks can be very effective in setting out fully what is expected when staff become sick.

For a free consultation on the above or any commercial matter please contact us on (Switchboard) 08458 678 978 or via email to office@acumenbusinesslaw.co.uk