hi i have been on sick leave for the 6 months. the company i im working for has planned holidays am i entitled to get this holidays back?

How would this apply with Public Holidays? If a staff member was certified to be absent for 4 weeks and two Public Holidays fell within this period, would we be expected to grant this staff member to take these two days off some other time?

Have your say... Prior to this ruling, this has been a standard practice in the Civil Service that sickness during empoyee's annual leave cancels the leave which can be re-booked at a later date, if supported with evidence. If an employee chooses to bring a curse upon him/her self by making a false sickness claim during annual leave because of this ruling, you can only wish them luck as they might end up with unprecedented sickness they had not wished.  People should rise above such practices and maintain their intergrity as employees.

I am concerned as to how this would be managed because if it is treated as ordinary sick leave then the employee can just call in and say i'm sick and i do not want this to be charged to my vacation leave. That state of affairs would not be manageable and would definitely be susceptible to gross manipulation. Hence, the period must be determined as well as presentation of medical support

Hi. <br/> <br/>I am going to reinforce the absence policy wording and remind staff that to comply with reporting requirements they have to advise all absences as stated in the policy. First day of absence, report direct to line manager. They need to see it the same as an insurance policy, you have to lodge the claim to be able to make the claim. With technology the way it is, people can ring, text, e mail or send a message via someone in the country they work in. But I will be looking at ensuring these are well monitored and any 2nd requests, the formal return to work is put in place and then a plan of action made to ensure it does not repeat.

What is the difference between someone who says they have been ill while on holiday and someone who calls in sick during a normal working week? If someone is inclined to take the odd sick day here and there they will do so regardless of this ruling and should be dealt with via the company’s absence procedures.  For the majority who have a good attendance record they are unlikely to claim they have been ill on holiday just to get this period changed from holiday to sickness leave.  I agree with the earlier comment that those who are genuinely ill and can’t go on a booked holiday should be given the opportunity to rearrange and take their leave at another time

Have your say...I wish this ruling would take effect in the Caribbean. If you fall ill during scheduled vacation, it falls under the category of "too bad". Holiday should be a time of "recuperating" from the stress of work. What this ruling does is give credence to the whole concept of work life balance that so many companies are simply pay lip service to. The two occurrences should be mutually exclusive.

An example of where this ruling makes perfect sense occurred some years ago in my organisation. A salesperson had booked a two week family holiday overseas; he suffered a strain injury the week before and realised that he would not be able to carry the suitcases or engage in the activities they had planned, so he cancelled the holiday. He asked whether he could reschedule the planned holiday; we accepted the fact that he was in fact off sick so we agreed. It was just common sense. My advice has always been that if a person has a medical note proving they are unwell, then they are on sick leave, irrespective of any holidays they may have been due to take instead. I thought the practice of booking "holiday leave" instead of sick leave (where a person is concerned about their attendance record) had been outlawed some time ago...

It again emphasises the need to manage absence in the workplace.  Employees can only push to boardaries as far as they are allowed to.

This doesn't answer the case of an employee whose sick pay entitlement has expired and who asks to be treated as being on paid annual leave during a period of sickness.  If allowed this would be contrary to the purpose of the leave as expressed by the ECJ.

Lets say you work from home 2 days per week and at the office 3 days and, for eg, you are taking some leave at home. During this leave you have a badly sprained ankle that doesn't affect your ability to sit in front of your PC. The employer, if faced with more holiday in the future, could, in theory, call it home working. Seems fair to me!!!!! BUT if you have your sprained ankle in Turkey - ?????

Yes, Catherine some lazy guys out there will like to abuse this ruling which is intended to give workers the right to a full vacation rest instead of having it at the infirmary. It will surely bring contentious challenge to employers especially when employees travel out of their work location for holidays.

Does this mean that an employee who is ill with a "tummy bug" during a foreign holiday, has to be counted as sick and not on holiday?  And do they self-certify for these couple of days?  If so, be prepared for lots of claims for extra days' holiday when they come back.

Vivienne. I don't quite understand how your arrive at 52+ weeks. The employee will surely be paid either as holiday or as sick (whichever applies). Even if the holiday is carried forward to the next year the employee should only get their overall holiday entitlement.<br/>What is confusing though, is that the ECJ refers to only the European statutory leave (which is 4 weeks). The extra 1.6 weeks in the UK is UK law; so does the ECJ judgement apply to the whole 5.6 weeks leave or just the 4 weeks leave?

If employees are entitled to claim back paid leave, are employers entitled to claim back paid sick leave?  Otherwise some employees will be getting paid 52+ weeks per annum while their colleagues, who were at work, will only get 52 weeks pay...