Those off work sick can take vacation days collected during sick leave once they’re back at work, says top EU court
European workers who are on long-term sick leave still get their holidays, a European Union (EU) court has ruled.
A group of British revenue and customs employees had a prolonged legsl dispute for maintaining their holiday entitlement during sick leave and the U.K. House of Lords referred the case to the European Court of Justice. The EU court then ruled employees on long-term sick leave are still entitled to paid holidays just as if they were still at work. They would be able to take the accrued leave once they returned to work.
The court’s decision applies only to workers who are off work long enough to be unable to take their annual vacation entitlement over the course of the year.
EU law requires a minimum of 20 days annual leave, so someone who was on long-term disability would accrue 20 days of vacation for each year she was off work, plus public holidays. The U.K. minimum is 24 days, so British lawmakers will have to decide whether to extend the vacation benefit to match.
