ACS

The European Court has made a landmark legal ruling which will allow workers to claim back holiday time lost to illness.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the European Court judgment, in a case involving a Spanish council worker, was "open to abuse".

A Madrid City Council employee launched a legal action after being refused the right to alter holiday plans because of an injury suffered just before he was due to take annual leave. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that he should have been allowed to alter his holiday dates - including the option to postpone his holiday and take it in the next holiday year.

The case did not involve someone taken ill during their holiday and then demanding compensatory sick leave.

The court ruling made clear that if a "worker does not wish to take annual leave during a period of sick leave, annual leave must be granted to him for a different period".

A similar conclusion was reached by the House of Lords three months ago in a case brought by UK Customs staff, declaring that workers could, in certain circumstances, build up holiday entitlement while on long-term sick leave.

After the European ruling, Katja Hall, of the CBI, said: "Many firms already take a common-sense and sympathetic approach. But allowing employees to reclassify their holiday as sick leave opens the door to abuse."

Long-term sick leave already costs the UK economy more than £5 billion a year.

The EU ruling does not stipulate any time at which an illness could trigger the right to alter holidays, but lawyers examining the EU ruling say the result could be interpreted as giving workers the right to claim extra holiday time even if they have been taken ill after their holiday has begun.

ACS will be producing an advice guide to keep members up-to-date on how this ruling will impact their business.