Guidelines set in key sick leave-holiday pay
ruling
Employment Law & HR update
12/08/2011
A test case on employee holiday pay has ruled that a worker will
continue to accrue holiday pay even when they are off sick for a
prolonged period of time.
The case of NHS Leeds v. Larner ruled that, even though the Ms
Larner who brought the case was signed off on sick leave for some
14 months in 2009 and 2010, she should still have received payment
in lieu of her untaken annual leave. She was dismissed from her
jobs after the 14 months of sick leave, on the grounds of
incapability due to her ill health.
Ms Larner brought a claim for her unpaid holiday pay under the
Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR). Her claim was upheld by and
Employment Tribunal (ET) and, this week, it was upheld once more by
the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).
Ruling on the case, Mr Justice Bean, stated that, when a person
is unable to take their annual leave they may carry it forward to
the following year automatically, without having to make any
request to do so. He stated that if an employee was able to do so,
but did not, then they would lose that entitlement unless they
request otherwise.
He iterated that if the worker had been absent for a part of the
year, the issue of holiday pay would depend on whether he or she
had an opportunity to take leave during that year.
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