A little bit of advice please?

[Pebbles601]

I am 14 weeks pregnant & have been signed off since week 8 due to hyperemesis. I am signed off for another 2 weeks yet & I am hopeful (fingers crossed!) this lifts soon.

I have prearranged annual leave booked for Christmas which I was still hoping to take if I do not need to be signed off. My Boss has told me they will need to contact HR to find out if I can take annual leave straight from sick leave as they are monitoring me..... Is this a thing? Surely cancelling my annual leave because I have been sick due to pregnancy is discriminatory? Not sure what to do as we are meant to take our leave before April, it is notoriously difficult to get any sizable chunk agreed from Jan-March so it encourages people to use it before this time. I would be grateful for any advice or if anyone has been in a similar situation!

Hello, if you are signed off when you should have been on annual leave the annual leave should be put back into your annual leave entitlement. Due to you being off because of pregnancy symptoms they should make every effort to allow you to take it before the end of your leave year. Or you should be allowed to carry it over to next year as you were off sick (ask for the company policy on this).

However, you shouldn't really take annual leave whilst off sick as annual leave is for "leisure" time which you're not really having if you're feeling very unwell so this is why they may not allow you to use annual leave whilst signed off. It is not discriminatory as it is for your benefit so you can use your annual leave for proper time off not if you are sick.

Hope this helps

Thanks for your reply. I probably didn't explain it right. I am off for another 2weeks (signed off) and after that I have pre booked annual leave. If I am well, I won't be getting signed off - but they are saying they do not know if I am allowed to go straight from sick leave into annual leave if you see what I mean. Therefore if I am well after being signed off, they will effectively cancel my planned annual leave & ask me to work.

Pretty confident that is not allowed - annual leave is in no way linked to time off sick (for anything) however badly done to work may feel

I'd also be concerned to hear they are "monitoring you" as pregnancy related illness is protected and you shouldn't be being capability monitored for properly medicallyadvised sick leave due to HG

Agreen you need to see some policies

There is no legal reason behind this, but your company may have a policy to stop people extending their annual leave by tagging on sick leave before or after it. If you're signed off sick, the company can't stop you taking sick leave. However, depending on the policy, they may be able to cancel annual leave. However, they can't cancel your annual leave and then stop you from taking it all together. They have to be reasonable and let you take it at another time.

Thanks for your advice! Checked the policies and it says that staff who have been on long term sick are entitled to take annual leave. I think the suggested monitoring comment was meant to unnerve me. Not sure what I can do though if they want to cancel it. They know I have had a rough time of it & it is just nice to know how appreciated you are if they go ahead & cancel your xmas leave!!

Not sure if this applies where you work, but do you have an HR department or union rep you could ask for advice and support in the event of a difficulty? That, or if you're someone who's confident in being assertive and stating the policy supports you taking the leave as planned as an initial step do that, preferably in writing so there's a paper trail, and then if they still won't allow you the leave then bring in HR/union who could point out the risks of an employment tribunal under the Equality Act (2010) if you're discriminated against (not given previously agreed leave due to pregnancy related sick leave).

Thanks Lucky, I think this is the route I will have to take. My manager was meant to get back to me today but they didn't. So I will quote the policy if they try to tell me differently. I think they will state they need me back due to the "needs of the business" or whatever, but I know it is just due to me being off sick for so long as they said on the phone. Going to check my representation aswell, think they have an advice line. Just never had to do anything like this before!