Advice needed: Boss trying to count sick days as annual leave

fragile

Due to unforseen circumstances I have had to spend some time in hospital this year on three ocasions missing a total of 14 working days. I asked my employer if they wanted me to get the necessary documentation from the hospital so that the company could apply to the Dept. of Social and Family Affairs to claim disability benefit, but they said there was no need and they would just pay me as usual.
Grand I thought, until yesterday when I asked for a couple of days off (under my contract I am entitled to 20 days a year) and my manager said I couldn't take any more days of annual leave because of all the days I had missed from being in hospital!
I checked with oasis.gov.ie and an employer is not allowed to take sick days out of your annual leave (they can refuse to pay you for sick days), so before I approach my boss about this does anybody have any experience with dealing with something like this, or any good advice on how I should deal with the situation?

Cheers for any advice/help

Gurgle

Some people are just feckin chancers.
First tell your boss you're going to check with a lawyer. If he doesn't back down, talk to a lawyer.

Oh, get all the sick certs & claim for sick pay. When the cheque arrives, pay the money back to your boss.
If its not in your contract, its up to him whether to make up the difference between the social welfare and your usual pay.

It should be mentioned in your contract either way but if you work for a 2-bit company you probably don't have a proper written contract.

btw, 20 days annual leave per year is the absolute legal minimum he has to give you if you work a 39 hour week.

BC

It depends on what exactly the boss has said.
Judging from your post, he hasn't told you to take the 14 days out of your holidays (thats illegal), all he has said is that you can't take holidays at the moment. Your employer is allowed to decide when you can and can't take annual leave.

Beruthiel

fragile wrote:

Due to unforseen circumstances I have had to spend some time in hospital this year on three ocasions missing a total of 14 working days. I asked my employer if they wanted me to get the necessary documentation from the hospital so that the company could apply to the Dept. of Social and Family Affairs to claim disability benefit, but they said there was no need and they would just pay me as usual

I work in the wages dept of a large factory, we would never get away with chancing our arm like your boss just has.
first off, he should have gone the route of the Social welfare and sorted it out that way.
If he told you not to worry about it, he should have explained to you that he was taking it out of your annual leave as to give you that option - there have been a few people here who have been told not to worry about that, they are special cases because they were part of the furniture and have been here since the factory got started 30 years ago.

If I were you, I would go straight to my boss, explain you had offered to go the social welfare route, but that he had told you not to worry. You understood that to mean that he would pay you as normal - you did not understand at the time that he would take it out of your holidays as he did not say that's what he was doing.
see what he says to that comment before taking it further.

seamus

Tell him you've checked it out and he can't take sick days out of your annual leave. Send him the link if he disagrees. Mention to him that if he didn't want to pay you for your sick days, he should have said though then, but you'd still be willing to go down the Social Welfare route now, if he is.

I was going to say that you should offer to take your annual leave unpaid, but since he said that the sick days were no problem, **** him.

He's definitely chancing his arm. Don't mention the words "Lawyer" or "Solicitor" unless you're preparing to find a new job.

BC

I think the boss is getting a bit of a raw deal here. Read the post again. He hasn't said he's taking the sick days out of the annual leave, he has just said that the OP can't take annual leave at the moment. Theres nothing wrong with that as long as he gets to take the days later in the year.

WizZard

fragile wrote:

... my manager said I couldn't take any more days of annual leave because of all the days I had missed from being in hospital!

To other posters: the OP has said that this is the explanation given to him/her by their manager as the reason s/he could not take leave days.

I was in this situation myself before, and it's a hard one to call. Your boss must ask you (and/or give you the option to refuse) before taking sick days away from your annual leave.

WhiteWashMan

ok ok ok.
calm down......

/scoucer

first off all, i think you ought to talk to your manager again. he may just have this information in front of him, and it maybe an honest mistake that someone somewhere has put down your sick days as holidays or annual leave days.

first things first, absolutely clarify with your manager, his manager and your HR people that your sick days have been exchanged without your knowledge for annual leave days.

you will look a bit silly if you go in firing all barrels and find out some admin person made a mistake 2 months ago!

if all is well, then all is well.

if it is not, then i sugegst you find out from your HR department how this has been authorised, and then follow it up. do not go around administering blame or anything, be polite and helpful and keep your boss on side.
ask open and friendly questions like 'is this a common pracitise, or how does this happen, instead of 'who the hell do you think you are taking my annual leave days without asking me

if a tthe end of the day, it would appear your boss, your HR and everyone is conspiring, and you have documentation to prove this is what they are doing (get them to put it in writing, if the wont put it in writing, they can hardly do it now, can they? otherwise, its theft ) , then you can look at the more legal side of things, including legal action etc.

but try and exhaust all possible win-win solutions first, because it will probably be the past paycheck you get out of them.

after all, you dont want to work for people who do this, do you?