Holiday pay must be paid to sick staff
Employers must pay staff their full holiday entitlements if they are off sick for more than a year and are unable to take their leave, a tribunal has ruled.
James Rawlings, who was off sick for more than a year before leaving his company, was entitled to be paid his full holiday entitlements upon resignation because his absence from work had prevented him from taking his leave, the tribunal said.
The ruling in the Rawlings v The Direct Garage Door Company case reaffirmed a judgment by the House of Lords last year in Stringer v HMRC. The 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.
Putting the judgment in the Stringer case into practice, the Sheffield tribunal found Rawlings, whose sickness absence lasted for the whole of 2005 and until he left the company in 2006, was entitled to be paid for the holiday he had been unable to take during the time off.