Illness whilst on holiday

Philip Avery on 04/05/2012

Under new rules, which the government says are being forced upon the UK as a result of European judgements employees will be legally entitled to additional days off for sickness which happens while they are on holiday.

There may well be genuine occasions when illness strikes whilst taking leave, and it is arguably in the bosses interest that staff have proper holidays so that they can return refreshed to their jobs, but there are worries that employees could abuse the rules by falsely claiming they were sick whilst happily enjoying their holidays.

This all follows on from European legal judgements over several years.

In 2009 the Pereda case involved a Spanish worker who became ill just before his holidays and the employer refused a request to change his dates. The court ruled in favour of the worker and that he was entitled to a proper holiday.

As a result of this and other decisions discussions have been ongoing on the Working Time Directive regulations and the changes are likely to apply from October this year.

The UK government has said that it is firmly against the new regulations and is considering simply ignoring them, but this would presumably not prevent aggrieved workers applying to the European Court.

Medical evidence would be needed in the form of a sick note. How available this is likely to be if workers are abroad when illness strikes is a moot point.

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