Employees to get extra time off in the event of illness while on holiday

Workers who become ill during their holidays will be legally entitled to extra time off work under controversial plans to be introduced later this year by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary. Under the changes to the working time directive, time taken off work for sickness, maternity and paternity leave must be given to workers in addition to their legal right to annual leave.

If a worker becomes ill during annual leave, employers will have to give them the extra time off after they have produced a sick note. The new legal regulations will be introduced in October and the Government estimates that they will cost employers more than £100 million annually.



Ministers claim that the new regime must be introduced following several European legal judgments. However, the rules will add to growing concerns over the impact of regulation on British firms, which is thought to be undermining the economic recovery.

Ministers also admit that companies are also worried that the new rules are open to abuse as workers could falsely claim they were sick in order to claim more leave at a later date. David Cameron has repeatedly pledged to cut regulation but an official report published last week showed only minimal action to reduce the burden on business.