Is there a statutory definition of long term sickness?
No. The normal convention is that absence exceeding four weeks is considered long term. Q: What happens if an employee returns from long term sickness within the current leave year? Answer: They will be entitled to take the remainder of their holiday entitlement for that year as normal. Q: What if someone goes off sick during their authorised holidays? Answer: This is now a grey area. If you already convert holiday to sickness this would continue. If you don’t; wait to see how case law develops before conceding anything additional. Q: We have always been told that it was “use it or lose it” when an employee was sick at the end of the leave year. Answer: The “Stringer” case changes this and you can no longer rely on this arrangement. Q: What happens if an employee’s sickness bridges two or more holiday years? Answer: They potentially accrue statutory holiday entitlement/pay for each. Q: Should I pay an employee outstanding holiday pay while they’re still off sick? Answer: The House of L
