Stringer and Others v HM Revenue & Customs

An employee’s entitlement to holiday, and the pay he or she receives while taking holiday, has been a hot topic in the courts over the past few years.

In the case of Plumb v Duncan Print Group Ltd, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (“EAT”) has returned to the topic of an employee’s entitlement to holiday while on sick leave.

In 2009, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) in the cases of Stringer and Others v HM Revenue & Customs and Pereda v Madrid Movilidad established the following principles:

  • Workers who are off work on sick leave continue to accrue annual leave
  • Workers can take holiday during sick leave, however if they are unable or do not wish to do so, they can take it at a different time, even if this means carrying it over to the next holiday year

These decisions were all made under the EC Working Time Directive (“Directive”). However, they conflict with regulation 13(9) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (“WTR”) which implements the Directive in the UK. Specifically, this provides that statutory annual leave must be taken in the same year in which it is accrued and cannot be carried over into the following leave year.

Continue Reading Holiday entitlement during sick leave – Where are we now?