Two Annual Leave Questions

suicide_circus

Hi there, I have two separate questions regarding annual leave.

1) In my place of work, if you are sick the day before your annual leave begins, your entire annual leave period is unpaid. Is this kosher?

2)In my place of work we request annual leave in a book and it is on a first-come-first-served basis. In our team we have two on maternity leave and two on longterm sick leave. As a result, we are short staffed and it has not been possible for management to award annual leave on several occasions because of this.
Given that annual leave is a statutory entitement and that the granting of annual leave must reflect the personal circumstances of the employee - does it not behoove the employer to ensure that the workplace is adequately staff (through temps or whatever) so that this statutory requirement can be met?

Thanks

Eoin

suicide_circus wrote: »

Hi there, I have two separate questions regarding annual leave.

1) In my place of work, if you are sick the day before your annual leave begins, your entire annual leave period is unpaid. Is this kosher?

No, that doesn't sound right at all. Are you sure you've read the policy right? If you are sick while on annual leave, the annual leave allocation can be recouped and the time off treated as sick leave. But sick pay doesn't have to be paid. Could that be what's happening?

suicide_circus wrote: »

2)In my place of work we request annual leave in a book and it is on a first-come-first-served basis. In our team we have two on maternity leave and two on longterm sick leave. As a result, we are short staffed and it has not been possible for management to award annual leave on several occasions because of this.
Given that annual leave is a statutory entitement and that the granting of annual leave must reflect the personal circumstances of the employee - does it not behoove the employer to ensure that the workplace is adequately staff (through temps or whatever) so that this statutory requirement can be met?

Thanks

Maybe it does, you'd think they'd have weighed up the options.

But unless it comes to the point where you've not been allowed to take your leave by the end of the year, then it sounds more like a decision for the employer to make than anything else.

If they've just had to refuse annual leave on a couple of occasions, but you've been able to take it at other times, then that's pretty much allowed (within reason).

suicide_circus

Hi Eoin, thanks for replying

With regard to question 1, what i have been told is basically "if you're sick leave runs into annual leave then you will not be paid for annual leave" no mention was made of getting those annual leave days back.

With regard to question 2, i'm sure I could have taken annual leave on other days when no one else was also taking them but i thought they had to take my personal life/circumstances into account, i'm not exactly non-replaceable pivitol link in the company, and since we only get our roster 2 weeks in advance, it is basically impossible for me to wait for the roster to come out to plan annual leave, i have to co-ordinate time off with tmy gf and book flights etc well in advance of the roster coming out. The attitude from management is pretty much 'tough'. And since 4 of my team are out longterm it is more and more difficult to arrage annual leave.

Eoin

suicide_circus wrote: »

if you're sick leave runs into annual leave then you will not be paid for annual leave

Get that policy in writing from them - that sounds 100% wrong, from what you've said.

suicide_circus wrote: »

but i thought they had to take my personal life/circumstances into account

You're dead right, but unfortunately it's a very vague guideline that's been set.

There might be provisions for a certain amount of uninterrupted leave you're entitled to in any given year though.

Mrs OBumble

Eoin wrote: »

Get that policy in writing from them - that sounds 100% wrong, from what you've said.

Hang on: if it's not paid, then it's not annual leave.

Instead, it's other leave without pay - so when you go back to work, you will still have the same leave entitlement that you had before the holiday.

It might be a good idea to make sure that your manager understands this point, and that if an employee wants to build a leave-bank then the odd strategic 1/2 day of sick leave could be a good tool. (A leave-bank is a bad thing for an employer, 'cos they have to pay it all out when the person leaves.)

And TBH, I can understand why an employer might implement a policy like this, if they've been abused by staff in the past.

Eoin

JustMary wrote: »

Hang on: if it's not paid, then it's not annual leave.

Instead, it's other leave without pay - so when you go back to work, you will still have the same leave entitlement that you had before the holiday.

That's pretty much what I was getting at in my first post

ninjasurfer1

Apologies for all of the quotes!!

suicide_circus wrote: »

With regard to question 1, what i have been told is basically "if you're sick leave runs into annual leave then you will not be paid for annual leave" no mention was made of getting those annual leave days back.

From: http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/sick_leave.html

Sick leave and annual leave
If you are ill during your annual leave and have a medical certificate for the days you were ill, these sick days will not be counted as annual leave days. Instead, you can use these days as annual leave at a later date.
An employer cannot require you to take annual leave for a certified period of illness. However, illness during the leave year will reduce the total number of hours worked by you and may therefore affect your entitlement to annual leave under the Organisation of Working Time Act. For information about long-term sick leave and annual leave see ‘Further information’ below.

suicide_circus wrote: »

With regard to question 2, i'm sure I could have taken annual leave on other days when no one else was also taking them but i thought they had to take my personal life/circumstances into account, i'm not exactly non-replaceable pivitol link in the company, and since we only get our roster 2 weeks in advance, it is basically impossible for me to wait for the roster to come out to plan annual leave, i have to co-ordinate time off with tmy gf and book flights etc well in advance of the roster coming out. The attitude from management is pretty much 'tough'. And since 4 of my team are out longterm it is more and more difficult to arrage annual leave.

From the same page as above:

It is for your employer to decide when annual leave may be taken, but this is subject to a number of conditions. Your employer must take into account your family responsibilities, opportunities for rest and recreation that are available to you and to consult with you (or your union) at least one month before the leave is to be taken. In addition, annual leave should be taken within the appropriate leave year or with your consent, within 6 months of the relevant leave year. Further holding over (also known as carrying-over) of annual leave at your wish is a matter for agreement between you and your employer.

An employee who has worked for at least 8 months is entitled to an unbroken period of 2 weeks' annual leave