If you get sick during your vacation, should you be entitled to additional vacation days to compensate? You weighed in with your opinions here.
The European Union’s Court of Justice, in a decision binding on all 27 member nations, ruled that since “[t]he purpose of entitlement to paid annual leave is to enable the worker to rest and enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure,” and “[t]he purpose of … sick leave is [to enable] a worker to recover from an illness that has caused him to be unfit for work,” a worker who falls ill while on vacation is in fact entitled to additional vacation days.
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© 2012 by Bill Bickel unless otherwise noted.
As a question about the law, it’s not too relevant to the U.S. At least at the federal level, you’re not entitled to any vacation days. It’s at your employer’s discretion whether to give you any vacation days at all, so it’s almost certainly at their discretion whether to let you swap in sick days during your vacation.
Not necessarily: if you’re contractually entitled to a certain number of vacation days, then it could be very relevant whether you can claim “sick days” while on vacation.
True, but the employer can always specify in the contract what they mean by “entitled to a certain number of vacation days.” There’s not really an interesting question about what you’re entitled to under the law in general, at most a question about what might be implied in cases where the contract doesn’t specify.
I recently requested Annual Leave from my boss for some follow-up dental work. He refused and told me to take a sick day. When he discovered I had previously used Annual Leave for the preliminary work – he said he would have converted that too (had I told him in time). As far as I know, we [here in Britain] have no limit on sick-leave – though one can get medically retired (with benefits) if the condition is long-term or permanent. It’s a good system – so long as it isn’t abused. I grant that – as I haven’t taken any form of sick-leave in over a decade – I would have preferred he not convert my Annual Leave – but that’s the American in me.
Oh, EUROPE. Yes, I would guess that Europeans would get that kind of allowance, but I can’t think of any of my former employers in the U.S. who wouldn’t laugh at me if I suggested such a thing.
Well, I’m sure the European employers laughed too, until the Court told them otherwise.
If the purpose of vacation is “rest and relaxation”, does my time waiting in TSA lines not count against my vacation?
Most of the places I have worked at now have a bucket of time called sick, personal and vacation days. Doesn’t matter what you use them for the time comes out of the same pool.
Evidently this motivates the employees to NOT take a “what the hell” day when the weather is nice.