Post Stringer, Philip Thornton considers holiday pay rights for those on long-term sick leave
The litigation in Stringer v HMRC [2009] UKHL 31, [2009] All ER (D) 168 (Jun) previously known as Ainsworth, goes back to employment tribunal judgments from 2003. The case made its way up through the appellate system, was the subject of a reference to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), and the House of Lords finally handed down judgment on 10 June 2009.
It was hoped that the House of Lords would clarify many unanswered questions about the law relating to statutory annual leave, but those hopes have, after all this time, been dashed. This article seeks to unscramble the post-Stringer state of the law, setting out both what we know, and what remains unresolved.
Only two points of law are mentioned in the House of Lords’ judgments:
l the issue of whether statutory annual leave may be taken during periods that a worker is off sick; and
l whether a failure to pay a worker in respect of
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