Retail Motor Law

On the 21 January 2009 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided annual leave does accrue during sick leave and may be taken during that current annual leave year or carried over into the next year’s leave.

The key points of this decision are as follows:

·         Member states can decide whether annual leave can or cannot be taken during sick leave

·         workers can carry over annual leave to the next year even if they were of sick for all or part of that leave year

·         workers have the right to pay in lieu of holiday not taken because of sick leave

However....

The ECJ ruling has raised a number of practical issues for the UK Government to look at particularly in relation to the Working Time Regulations. Currently UK employers have the right to specify the days on which an employee must take, or cannot take annual leave. But how would this work with taking holiday during sick leave?

It would be advisable to wait for the House of Lords decision before taking any action on this matter, however, one thing is for certain employers will find this an additional financial burden especially during this the current difficult economic climate.

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