Sick of Holidays?

Hello and welcome to this week’s employment law news from Reculver Solicitors.

The Courts have for some time grappled with the vexed question of whether employees on long term sick leave continue to accrue the right to paid holiday under the Working Time Regulations. Understandably, employers would rather it didn’t as don’t fancy being hit in the pocket when the employee is not even there in the first place.

This issue eventually ascended to the giddy heights of the European Court of Justice which has issued its decision this week in Stringer v HMRC (previously Ainsworth v HMRC). The ECJ has ruled that:

- A worker who is on sick-leave for the whole of an annual leave year is entitled to a period of four weeks' paid annual leave, despite the fact they are not actually at work. In other words the right to paid holiday accrues even for employees on long term sick leave.

- The national courts will have to decide whether the paid leave can be taken during that particular holiday year, or whether it should be carried over to the next holiday year. It appears this issue will go back to the UK courts for consideration. However the right to paid holiday is not forfeit if the holiday is not taken during that particular holiday year and will have to be paid one way or another.

This decision is hardly going to be welcomed with open arms by employers with any staff on long term sick leave, and may prompt a slew of new claims from those in the know. How many savvy employees will find out about the decision remains to be seen though.

James Carmody
RECULVER SOLICITORS

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