Sick Leave

Posted in Regulations

The Government in 2014 approved amendments to Sections 19, 20 and 23 of the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to bring the Act into line with rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union in relation to the accrual of annual leave entitlement during sick leave. The amendments to the 1997 Act have now been made by section 86(1) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 which was enacted on 20 May 2015.

 

These provisions of the Workplace Relations Act have commenced as of August 1, 2015.

The amendments to the 1997 Act provide as follows:

  • Annual leave entitlement accrues during a period of certified sick leave.
  • An annual leave carryover period of 15 months after a leave year will apply to those employees who could not, due to illness, take annual leave during the relevant leave year or during the normal carryover period of 6 months.
  • On termination of employment, payment in lieu of untaken annual leave will apply to leave which was untaken as a result of illness in circumstances where the employee leaves the employment within a period of 15 months following the end of the leave year during which the leave entitlement arose.

 

These changes are not retrospective. Therefore, if an employee has been on sick leave before 1 August 2015 then they will not accrue annual leave over that time.

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