Holiday pay for year long sick leave
Tuesday, 16th March 2010
Employees who are off work for a year due to illness should receive their full holiday entitlements, a tribunal has ruled.
James Rawlings’ landmark case was overseen by a Sheffield employment tribunal, which ruled that, as he had been absent from work for over a year, and as such could not take his annual leave, he should receive full holiday pay from employers.
Mr Rawlings missed the entirety of 2005 after contracting illness. Upon leaving the company in 2006, he found that holiday pay had been deducted from his wages and approached his local solicitor for advice.
Judge Trayler ruled that the complaint about holiday leave deductions was "well founded" and ordered the company to pay the £1,554 owed in holiday pay.
Late last year, the House of Lords held that workers could accrue holiday pay while on sick leave and that it could be carried forward to the next leave year, despite the UK Working Time Regulations stating that it is unlawful for employees to carry over more than eight days.
Mr Rawlings’ case was stayed until after the judgement and employers have been warned that retrospective claims from former employees in similar circumstances could soon be on the horizon.
Under the Employment Rights Act, staff can claim against a series of unlawful deductions from their wages, as long as they make their claim within three months of the last deduction.
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