have been on sick leave for quite a few months and have been told by employer I have acrued holiday pay, in order for it to be paid I would need to be signed off as fit, then go back on to sick note, my SSP is about to expire, I would not as my contract states be able to carry over any unpaid unused holiday, and at present it is not looking good for me to return to this type of work anytime soon or if at all.

My question is does this sound right? is the employer being considerate or does it look like something they should not be advising?

Hello there. I expect the forum guys will be along later with advice for you.

It doesn't answer your question directly I don't think, but here's a link to the forum stikky about benefits while off sick.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?251897-Sick-pay-amp-all-ancillary-beneifits-DO-accrue-during-sickness

My best, HB

how much longer are you expecting to be off? I am sure becky said there was an exception to the usual process for very long term sick

sorry must be misssng something whos becky? can't say how long I will be off but just say the injury I have will make it a very painful day at work, whether this will improve I do not know but every month that goes by its feeling unlikely at present

Becky is another poster on the board.

I haven't seen anything from Becky thats why I asked, I have been looking around the site to find an answer, have seen the posts about sick pay of leave which is very helpful but unfortunately doesn't quite cover what I would like to try and find an answer to, not sure if anyone could give me any advice but any offered I am grateful for, will check in to the site again tomorow, thanks for any advice in advance

Hello, I'm the Becky being referred to.

I posted on another thread about this issue. Basically, there's currently a conflict between EU and domestic law, so the legal position isn't 100% clear. But in a nutshell:

1. Holiday pay continues to accrue whilst on long term sick.

2. If your employment terminates and you can't return to work, you are entitled to accrued holiday pay for the duration of the sick leave.

3. If you return to work part way through a leave year, you should be entitled to take your holiday that you've accrued. The problem is if you return too close to the end of the leave year to take the holiday, in which case UK law says it is lost, EU law implies it isn't.

4. There's no obligation on an employer to allow an employee on sick leave to take their annual leave (or more accurately holiday pay) whilst off sick.

Hope that helps somewhat. As I've said here previously, it's a grey area, but it's my legal interpretation as to how case law currently stands.

Thanks Becky, as I am so close to my leave year ending (end March) I believe its not going to allow payment of holiday pay as you said, and a lot of paper work for me for what could basically be nothing, it could be a ploy for the employer just to terminate my employment when I am temporary off of sick leave.

Thank you very much for your explaination of the law as it stands