In January 2009, it was ruled by the European Court of Justice that workers are entitled to accrue statutory minimum holiday entitlement while on sick leave or can carry it forward to another year. If an employee takes a holiday leave as sick leave, then they are paid for a normal holiday pay rather than SSP.
Sick Leave
Employees are allowed to take leave when they fall sick. If the employee is sick for a week, they need to provide proof of sickness. If an employer falls sick during or before the holidays, they can declare it as a sick leave instead. It is important to bring it to the notice of the employer about your sickness and be paid SSP and take holiday at later dates.
Proof of sickness
As mentioned above, if the employee falls sick for 7 days or more, they need to provide a sick proof. This will include bank holidays and weekends (non-working days). This sick note can be obtained from a GP or a hospital doctor. Sick note is usually free if the employee has been ill for more than 7 days. The sick note also known as a fitness note claims whether an employee is ‘fit for work’ or ‘not fit for work’. Employers keep the fit note while employees can keep the copy of the same.
Self-certification
If the employer has taken an off for 7 days or less, there is no need to provide a sick note. After resuming work, employers can ask for a self-certification (confirmation that the employee was sick). It can be done by sending an email.
Sick leave and Holiday
When an employee declares a holiday leave to sick leave they are paid statutory sick pay which will count towards the amount of holiday pay they’ve received.
However there are certain exceptions to this:
- Employer does not qualify for the sick pay
- They took off as sick leave and being paid ‘occupational sick pay’
Long term sickness
Any sick leave taken for 4 weeks is considered as a long term sick leave. An employee can carry forward its 4 weeks unused holiday. This is still entitled to annual leave. An employer can dismiss an employee who has been sick for a long term.
however there are certain rules to this. If:
- An employee can do work flexibly or part time
- An employee keeps the company updated of their health and is transparent about when he can join back
The employee cannot be dismissed. Any case, if an employee feels they have been unfairly dismissed, they can take their case to an employment tribunal.
Note: You can get £94.25 per week Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) if you are too sick to work. This is paid up to 28 days. This is applicable when you are sick for 4 days or more in a row.
Holiday Entitlement
All workers are entitled for 28days paid holiday every year. This is known as statutory leave or annual leave. A bank holiday is also included in statutory leave.
For those who have irregular hours of work are entitled for paid time off for every hour they work.
Note:
Bank holidays or Public holidays are not to be given as paid leave.
Workers are entitled for paid leave, leave for paternity/maternity/adoption leave and sick pay leave.
Employees who ask for a holiday and sick leave are not entitled to be paid at the same time.
