Holiday windfall for long-term sick

Employees on long-term sick continue to accrue holiday which they can take when they finally return to work, says the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Anyone who is off sick for a couple of years and then comes back to work can promptly go on paid holiday for a couple of months or so. Employment partner Jonathan Chamberlain says, "You do not have to be a Euro-sceptic to see this as a crushing defeat for robust British common sense."

All this comes from the latest instalment in the long-running Stringer and ors v HM Revenue and Customs and Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund cases.

As far as it relates to UK workers, the ECJ has basically said that a worker who is on sick leave still accrues a period of four weeks' paid annual leave, even though they are unable to actually take that leave during sickness absence. Furthermore, that worker must be allowed to carry over that untaken leave into the subsequent holiday year if they return to work or be given payment in lieu of leave if still on sick leave when their employment is terminated.

Read on for analysis of this important decision and its impact for employers from Wragge & Co's Employment team.