Advice re holidays and sickness

[elefern]

I went off sick this year, but I’d already taken two weeks off prior to this, that ended up being within my sickness period.

Shortly after going off sick, my boss rang me and said HR were worried about the amount of holidays I’d have left by the end of the year. He said he could keep my two weeks sickness as holiday instead, as this would look better on my sickness record.

I agreed as I knew I wanted to leave in 2023 anyway, and I wasn’t sure of protocol. However, since then, people have mentioned to me that my boss shouldn’t have called me while I was off sick, unless he was asking how I was. They have also suggested he shouldn’t have put my sickness down as holidays.

I’m wondering whether to go to HR about this now. Does anyone know if there’s anything they could do i.e. give me the holidays back?

Thanks!

It is reasonable for your manager to contact you whilst you are off sick, not to discuss work but to check how you are and ask for an update on how long you will be absent. Depending on the nature of the absence they can refer you to OH.

WRT holiday and sick, there is case law that says you can take leave whilst sick. Typically this would be if you have been absent for a long time and are on nil pay as it gives you some income. It can also be an option if you would only get SSP.

In the situation you describe It’s more usual to cancel the leave and take sick leave and pay. However, to do this you must phone in sick on the first day you are unwell and provide a self certificate for the period you were sick.

Talk to HR and explain the situation. Depending on how long ago this was and what evidence you gave at the time they may agree to treat the period as sick and give you back your annual leave.