To not want to take annual leave after being on long-term sick leave?

[nosorry]

I've been on long-term sick leave due to my mental health (2 months off), but have recently returned to work. I've only taken one day of annual leave this year, and our annual leave runs January to January and we are not allowed to carry any over to the following year. I have 24 days left of leave for 2022.

I feel way too embarrassed to even consider taking any further annual leave, it just feels like it's taking the mick and I would feel cheeky. WIBU to tell my manager I'm happy to not take any annual leave this year?

If I was your boss, I’d appreciate the gesture. If things were slack, I’d tell you to take some leave anyway.

Annual leave it to give you a break from work. Sick leave is for you to recuperate from illness, including mental illness. I would discuss with your manager and request to take it before end of year, carry over or be paid for it. You have have legal standing if they tried to take it away.

As a manager, I'd be telling you that your annual leave is important for your mental health and that you should take some. Don't run yourself into the ground out of embarrassment.

Fine don't feel you have to take all 24 days, but if an employee came to me and said this I'd actually be quite worried about them tbh.

I think you should use it. Not now but come Sep/Oct/Nov when you've been back for a while you might be glad of a break. As a manager I definitely wouldn't accept the gesture from someone returning after leave due to MH.

Def use it, and spread it out to help you manage work.

Any decent manager would insist imo

You definitely need to take it OP. You were off ill. It’s only July now, spread it across the remaking 5 months. Definitely take it though.

You could see if you could sell it.
As a manager there's no way I would accept you saying you didn't want to take it after being off with mental health issues because A)annual leave is there to give you a break from work and that supports good mental health and B)I'd be terrified that if I accepted you not taking it, I could then have it thrown back in my face in a tribunal or similar saying we hadn't adequately supported your mental health and had in some way encouraged you not to take your annual leave.

Perhaps you could see about taking one day a week for the next couple of months. That would help create a good work / life balance and may be help support whatever is causing your problems, but also doesn't take a huge chunk of time away from work again. I quite like a Wednesday as it means you've only ever got 2 days to get through.

There is a statutory requirement to have a minimum of 28 days annual leave per year, including bank holidays. This does not get shortened by you being off sick. If your employer didn't require you to use your holiday they're falling foul of the laws that are written to protect you as an employee.

I do totally understand what you mean though. I know it must feel awkward, but it is a different type of leave. I'm sure you weren't out partying every night, or sitting by a pool all day sipping cocktails, like you might have been if you were on holiday.

Well done though for getting yourself to a place where you're well enough to be back at work.

Would you/your manager consider taking one day per week as leave to help you manage your mental health better? Or would that be very disruptive for you?

You need to clearly define in your head what is sick leave and what is annual leave. You were unwell and need your annual leave to prevent it happening again. Other people will not be blurring the two and you should not either.

No I'd use it. I know it must feel awkward but you were not on holiday for those 2 months - you were unwell!

Are you very conscientious/ perfectionistic? Sometimes those qualities lead to people driving themselves too hard, which isn't always supportive of mental well-being.

In your position I'd say you'd benefit from taking your leave as appropriate rest keeps us well.

I've had several periods of long term sick and have used various different approaches. I preferred using annual leave to work half days for the month of my return so I could ease back into full time working and make sure I was ready. Would that work for you?

I would check re the carrying over rule. A lot of the time a manager will have discretion in individual cases, and may allow you to carry over some of the days because of the circumstances.

You don't need to take it yet if you feel embarrassed, but it might be useful to spread it out. I don't know if you have children, but I tend to think around the school year. If I had 24 days left to use, I would think of maybe 1 week at the end of August, 1 week at October half term, 2 weeks at Christmas and the other days dotted around, taking a Friday or Monday off to have a long weekend. Like everyone else, I think it is important to protect your mental health by taking your holiday.

Why should op effectively take a pay cut because she has mental health issues?

I’d struggle to accept someone having had long term absence due to mental health issues not using their annual leave allowance which is there, in part, to support employee wellbeing. Can you use it to shorten your working week, take long weekends, as a fire break between busy periods?

You and your employer both have a duty to support your mental health, and you not taking appropriate leave could reasonably lead to a relapse in mental health leading to more sick leave. On that basis I’d refuse a staff member saying they wouldn’t take leave. Why not meet with your manager and plan how you’re going to use your leave across the remainder of the year.

Also, if you find it hard to justify it to yourself (which you shouldn't but you might) you could think of it as supporting others who need time off sick.

There will be many others from your work in this position in the future, and might be others in your position right now. I'm sure none of them wants you to set a precedent of sacrificing your paid holiday following sick leave, as it will make it harder for them to justify taking theirs.

TBH I’d also question how healthy it is to work from January to May using just one days annual leave. Your MH must have been struggling before your sick leave, using your leave proportionately might have helped you maintain your mental health, I’d be wary that you returning and still not using your leave might point to further health issues down the line.

You should be able to carry leave over in extenuating circumstances or they can pay you for it. I’ve done this before for people who were LTS and the number of days they had would make it difficult to roll into a new year, so as long as you can pay them the non-statutory part of leave it’s fine. Have even done it where they’ve used some, paid a bit and rolled the rest.

YABU. Take the leave. You can always ask the manager how they'd prefer you took it? Eg. Half days every Friday or something or week blocks.

If you want to, you could not take 4 days, which are the days you 'earned' whilst off sick.
But days off are important to maintaining good MH so you really should take your other leave.

The reason that they gave a minimum annual leave allowance was to stop people not taking annual leave and then getting ill long term.

Take your leave. It is there for a reason. Any manager worth their salt would make you take it. Don't put them in the position of having to force it on you.

Can you use it to achieve a ‘paid’ staggered return eg by taking annual leave every Friday for a while? You’d need agreement from line manager.

If you don't have children, work it around the academic year -

Holiday in mid September (10)

Couple of days off in the first half of October - tag them onto a weekend and make sure you avoid taking leave the week of the 24th-30th, as that's half term. (2 - 4)

Couple of days throughout November - tagging them onto a weekend again (2-4)

Couple of days in Early December (if you're a really nice person, make sure that you aren't stopping somebody from seeing their kids' Nativity) (2-4)

The remainder over Christmas.

You've been unwell and irrespective of the cause of your illness, everybody benefits from maximising fresh air and daylight in the Autumn and Winter - doing this means that you have that opportunity to help support your ongoing recovery from illness.

Don't say you don't want to take your leave entitlement. You're entitled to it for a reason (it's the Law), whether your actual holidays are walks in the golden, shining countryside with a light chill in the air and soft polo neck jumpers or are more getting up at 1.30pm and then spending 3 hours in the bath watching Netflick whilst eating crisps; if nothing else, nobody you work with will want to hear 'but nosorry didn't take her full leave entitlement, you know, so why would you want to take all yours?'.

The time you've already had off was to recover from illness. If you don't take any annual leave for the rest of the year then your physical and mental health will be in crisis. Take what you are entitled to. If your manager is responsible they will encourage you to.