How should employers handle long-term sick leave and holiday?

Do employees accrue holiday while on sick leave?Yes. It is now clear that employees on long-term sick leave continue to accrue statutory holiday. In addition, that holiday can be carried over to the next holiday year if the employee is unable to take it in the current leave year due to sickness.

The UK’s Working Time Regulations 1998 do not allow holiday to be carried over in this way, so currently only public-sector employees can potentially enforce the ECJ’s ruling that holiday can be carried over from one year to the next.
 

Language does not simply reflect what is going on in organisational life: it also influences what people think and what they do

Linda Holbeche, director of the Holbeche Partnership and visiting professor of HRM/OD at Cass Business School