Does the Pereda ruling make you feel ill?
- After the Pereda case, employees may be able to postpone holiday if an employee finds themselves sick while on leave
- The way employers have reacted to this varies - which breed is your business?
- Can it be written out of a contract, or could this be a golden opportunity?
Alison Norris, an HR expert with Employment Law Specialists & Health and Safety Advisors mhl Support, suggests a remedy - and indulges in a little bird watching…
In September we had (yet) another decision from Europe that shook us to the core. The ruling related to one Francesco Pereda, a council worker from Madrid, and was made by the European Court of Justice. Signor Pereda was injured before he was due to go on holiday and he asked his employer if he could take his break some other time. His employer refused.
The ECJ judged that the employer was wrong: ergo, employees who are ill immediately before or during a holiday should be allowed to take that holiday later in the year, or carry it forward into the next year if necessary.
Some of us in HR will have heaved a mournful sigh at the thought of having to reviewing absence and sick pay policies yet again: we see compliance as just another chore. Some of us, however, seize every development in employment law as an opportunity. Others are likely to bury their heads in the sand and do nothing.
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