These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications.
Q: We have two employees who have been absent through sickness, one for eighteen months and the other for over two years. We don't really want to dismiss them as both may return. They have long exhausted their sick pay but do we need to pay them for holidays?
A: A court ruled quite recently that the purpose of holiday is to enable the employee to rest, and this they are doing if they are on long term sick leave, therefore there is no requirement to pay them. Strictly this applies only to the four weeks of holiday provided by the Working Time Regulations. Check whether their contracts of employment are more generous.
And the lesson:
Make it absolutely clear in your contracts whether or not employees are entitled to any benefits during a period of sickness absence. If this is not already in the contracts, publish an explanatory notice. Everyone will then know where they stand.
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