Holidays and sickness absence 


The European Court has issued several key decisions about the effect of sickness on statutory holiday rights. A government consultation launched in 2011 to examine how best to change the WTRs to respond to these decisions (the Modern Workplaces consultation) has since stalled without a change in the law. The European rulings on holiday and sickness absence discussed in this section only apply to the four weeks’ holiday under the Working Time Directive — not to the extra 1.6 weeks of holiday under UK law.


A worker continues to build up statutory annual leave under the Working Time Directive while off sick and can choose between taking paid holiday when off sick and saving it up to take when they return to work (HM Revenue and Customs v Stringer [2009] IRLR 677). 


Under the Working Time Directive, a worker cannot be forced to take annual leave while off sick (Pereda v Madrid Movilidad SA [2009] IRLR 959). 


Taking paid holiday while off sick may be sensible if a worker has exhausted their contractual sick pay entitlement. Workers who want to take holiday when off sick should give notice of their planned holiday, following their employer’s normal holiday procedure.