European Court of Justice Sick Leave Ruling Criticized
The Senior Public Policy Adviser of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has made adverse comments on this week’s judgment by the European Court of Justice, which has ruled that if employees are not well when they are vacationing then they can take this time from their employer as extra day(s) off.
The adviser has said that this judgement will allow unprincipled employees to overstate and feign illness while on vacation and then get extra days off which can even be carried over to the following year. This is a very troublesome judgment and will make it difficult for an employer to supervise if the worker is really ill. It is a judgment that does not work in the corporate world although it may work for advocates.
It is understood that employers have to face the eventuality of employees falling ill at work, and it must be accepted that employees may also get ill while on vacation. If an employee catches a cold or suffers from a stomach ache during vacation, it does not mean that the employer has to compulsorily give him one more day off for every day that he stays ill during the vacation. However, since this judgment has to be followed, employers should adopt a pragmatic approach and should at the minimum make clear their supervisory guidelines regarding absence. They can also make employees ring their line bosses every day that they are ill while on vacation to communicate that they are yet infirm and unable to work.
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The depressing thing about such a ridiculous judgment is that it will force employers to abandon their liberal sick pay schemes and adopt the Statutory Sick Pay schemes. The judgement is thus seen as one instance of a law that will have unintentional results.
