Worker Entitled to Holiday Pay in Respect of Long Term Sickness Absence

In Rawlings v The Direct Garage Door Company Ltd ET/2800547/2006, the Employment Tribunal held that a worker who had been absent on sick leave during the last 15 months of his employment was entitled to receive statutory holiday pay in respect of that period.

Mr Rawlings was on sick leave from 2004 until 5 April 2006 when he resigned from the company. The company's holiday year ran from 1 January to 31 December. On 1 December 2004, Mr Rawlings advised the company that he intended to exercise his right to take his statutory holiday entitlement for that year (four weeks at the time) from 2 December 2004 to 30 December 2004. The company paid Mr Rawlings four weeks' holiday pay in respect of that period of leave. The company did not pay Mr Rawlings in respect of statutory holiday for 2005 because he was on long term sickness absence during this period. It also did not pay Mr Rawlings in respect of statutory holiday up to April 2006. Mr Rawlings brought a claim for unlawful deductions from wages in respect of holiday pay for both 2005 and 2006.

The Employment Tribunal held that as Mr Rawlings was not able to take leave due to illness during 2005 and 2006, he was entitled to receive four weeks' holiday pay for 2005 and a proportion of that for 2006.