Holiday versus sick leave.

coathanger

An unusual question popped up today for me. My friend is on genuine sick leave for a few months & she was in contact with her work to get confirmation of holidays remaining for 2018.
She was told 5 days but that, the company take a half day from her holidays for every month she is off sick. So in essence, she only has 1 day to carry over to next year, as she is off sick 4 months.

My question is, is this allowed or even legal ?!

Atlantic Dawn

So she's off work sick for 4 months but wants to go on holidays? I don't understand?

beauf

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

So she's off work sick for 4 months but wants to go on holidays? I don't understand?

This...

"Since 1 August 2015, you accumulate statutory annual leave entitlement during a period of certified sick leave."

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

the_syco

coathanger wrote: »

So in essence, she only has 1 day to carry over to next year, as she is off sick 4 months.

Can she even carry over holidays? Not all employers do so.

joeguevara

Not enough information to know. Firstly were they getting sick pay. It is not mandatory but some companies do.

It sounds like your friend may have used up their sick leave and is no2 using annual leave.

On the other hand they may hav3 had only 5 days left and is being allocated to days that company is closed for Xmas.

But your friend needs to read employee handbook and discuss with HR. Not going to get a definitive answer here.

Thoie

I suspect some of it may depend on what type of contract she's on as well. I'm a full time employee, 9-5.30, Mon-Fri kind of job, and the statutory minimum I get is something like 1.66 days per month. If your friend is on, say a 4 day week, or a variable hours contract, the calculations are different (and in the same link beauf provided).

If, for example, their holidays are calculated on the "8%" rule, and their contract guarantees 12 hours a week, but they usually do 39 hours per week while they're in, the 8% may be being calculated from the base hours of 12 hours a week.

If she's in a 9-5.30, Mon-Fri kind of job, definitely question HR as to where they're getting the half day per month. For other contract types, see if you can get anywhere near that figure using the info in that link before questioning the company.

Riskymove

the_syco wrote: »

Can she even carry over holidays? Not all employers do so.

as per the links above it is now the law that you accrue holidays while on sick leave and that you can retain this leave for up to 15 months after the end of the relevant year to use it

so, legally, based on the info, the OP's friend should be able to retain her 5 days until March 2020

They cannot deduct holidays either

Riskymove

Thoie wrote: »

I'm a full time employee, 9-5.30, Mon-Fri kind of job, and the statutory minimum I get is something like 1.66 days per month.

The law since 2015 is that people on sick leave accrue leave in the same way as you set out

seamus

the_syco wrote: »

Can she even carry over holidays? Not all employers do so.

They don't have a choice. You cannot "lose" holidays.

If you get to the end of the year with 15 days unused, the company cannot say "you can only carry over five days, the other ten are gone". That's illegal.

Also, if you are on sick leave, you cannot be on annual leave. That is also the law. You cannot be forced to use your annual leave to cover sick days, and if you notify your employer that you're ill while on annual leave, they must give you that annual leave back.

Thoie

Riskymove wrote: »

The law since 2015 is that people on sick leave accrue leave in the same way as you set out

Yes, but what's the situation if your contract says minimum 12 hours per week? In that case, it would normally take you 2 months to build up one day of holiday. However, you generally work more hours than that.

While you're out sick, are you accruing holidays based on the minimum 12 hours, or on based on something else (say, an average of the hours you worked over the previous x amount of time)?

seamus

Thoie wrote: »

While you're out sick, are you accruing holidays based on the minimum 12 hours, or on based on something else (say, an average of the hours you worked over the previous x amount of time)?

You'll accrue based on your average hours over the previous 16 weeks.

caviardreams

Is it possible that you only accrue statutory leave i.e. 20 days a year, and if the company gives more than that, say 26 days a year, that would be half a day more a month than the statutory rate so could account for them deducting this, and reducing it to the statutory level?