The decision in the case of Stringer v. HMRC will soon be delivered by the House of Lords. The issue in the case is the accumulation of annual leave by a worker if he has taken sick leave. Another issue is whether he can utilise the accrued annual leave after returning from sickness absence.

The case was filed by four employees of HMRC. One employee wished to take annual leave while already on sickness leave, but was not allowed to do so by HMRC. The other three employees were dismissed while they were on a sick leave, and they had asked for payment for the annual leave accrued during their sickness absence. Both the claims were denied by HMRC on the ground that the employees could not ask for annual leave when they were on sick leave. The Certificate in Employment Relations, Law and Practice (CERLAP) is ideal for those involved in Human Resource management, click on CPP training for more information on the highly regarded course run by Workplace Law.

HMRC’s arguments were accepted by Employment Tribunal as well as the Court of Appeal. But the European Court of Justice overturned the verdict of these bodies. The ECJ stated that during the period of sickness leave, workers can accumulate four weeks’ holidays annually. They can utilise this holiday when they return from their leave. If they do not utilise the holiday, then they are entitled to a payment in lieu of the same on dismissal. The treatment of any additional holidays in the Regulations of individual countries or any other contractual holidays is up to the employer.

In the current UK Regulations, the employees are not allowed to carry forward their holiday if they do not utilise it within the same year. Therefore, this results in the denial of any holidays for the employees who had taken sick leave for the entire year. The ball is now in the court of the House of Lords, and both employers and employees will be eagerly awaiting the verdict.