Wish you weren't here?

Employers could be forgiven for lacking sympathy with an employee who returns from a holiday complaining they were sick during their annual leave that they couldn't properly enjoy it - particularly if the employee is sporting a suspiciously healthy looking tan. However, a European Court of Justice case, Asociación Nacional de Grandes Empresas de Distribución (ANGED) v Federación de Asociaciones Sindicales, dealt with just this situation, and, whilst it makes no comment where an employer's sympathy should lie, it does come to a very clear and potentially surprising conclusion. An employee who is unwell during their annual leave can require their employer to reschedule their annual leave to a later date. An employee cannot be unwell and take their annual leave at the same time.

An employee continues to accrue statutory holiday during sickness absence, even if they are absent for the whole holiday year. This means that an employee who has exhausted their sick pay entitlement could request to take paid holiday during their sickness absence. It is generally agreed that employees who are not permitted to take their statutory holiday while they are on sick leave are allowed to carry holiday over to the next holiday year. But what happens in circumstances where an employee becomes sick before or during their annual leave?