Converting annual leave to sick leave

[melpomene]

With all the flu going round at the moment, I thought it could be useful to point out that if you become ill while on annual leave you can ask your employer to convert your annual leave to sick leave. You can then take the annual leave at a later date.

link here (scroll down to the section headed 'Sickness'.)

I've just done this for myself; after not having a single day off sick all year, I came down with flu this week.

how likely is a smaller company to agree to this though?

i work in a team of 5 people, and there's no way my supervisors would believe that you've been ill over christmas. it doesn't seem fair, but that's just the way it is

any tips for how to cope with that aspect?

(i've not been ill myself, but DH has been out for the count for the last 2 weeks with particularly bad flu, only starting to recover now and his next shift is Tomorrow AM).

fgr: the company has no choice - it's a European ruling.

I think the company can require a doctor's note as evidence of illness (otherwise this might be somewhat open to abuse).

yes, i suppose DH would have this in his favour. but since the only manager that will be in for his first shift has been (repeatedly) an arse about taking holidays in the last few months (tight deadlines, but unable to carry over full holidays into next year if not taken )... i just wondered if you had any ideas about how to word it rather than coming across all miliant and shouting about "it's EU legislation" Although it might just come to that!

it's helpful to know anyway, thanks!

well... it's not actually legislation, as far as I can read up, but a ruling on a case brought to the European Court of Justice?

I would assume that it is definately good practice, but to enforce this, you would have to go through the grievance procedure etc, if an employer would not do it.

so quite possibly, if it is not company policy, you would need to get a bit militant to enforce it.

in my experiene you need to advise your manager at the time that your sick not when you return to work. Most companies would require sick note to cover the abence.

It makes no difference if it's legislation or case law (which is to a large extent a judge saying how legislation should be interpreted in a given situation anyway ), it's equally legally binding, and you shouldn't need to be any more 'militant' trying to enforce this right than any others.

The problem is most likely to be that your employer is not aware of the change as it is recent and they may not be subscribed to my newsletter (other newsletters are available).

However yes, like all your other rights, if your employer refuses to adhere to the law once it is nicely and politely pointed out to them, you may need to bring a grievance etc to get it.

Most employers, when shown a link in a non-accusatory way, will check it out and then follow it, although they may grumble and roll eyes a bit behind closed doors.

Just because you can do it does not mean it's the wisest thing to do in this economic climate. Also, if you do this just be prepared for your work colleagues to do the same and to have to pick up their work in the future.