The European Court of justice has decided that workers who fall ill during their holidays could now claim that time back from their employers.
About time, some would say. But save some pity for the poor workers who fall ill. Will they still have to pay for their own holiday flights and hotels costs? This would be grossly unfair, so we must all hope that the court will soon rectify this serious omission. Excuse the irony!
The obligations and costs of employing people continue to pile onto the employers. But a key question for others might be ... who is paid to reduce the load on employers? No one. But thousands of highly-paid lawyers, politicians and civil servants in the UK and at the European level are working hard to find new burdens to put on those who create jobs. In addition, some of these actual and planned legislative initiatives carry a big risk as they depend on the honesty and integrity of the employee. And anyone who has employed anyone will tell you that not everyone can be trusted. Perhaps one reason for the flood of legislation (often lunatic law) is that it is being created by precisely those people who never create jobs and rarely employ any significant numbers.
The House of Lords did not need the generosity of the European Court at long stop, when they decided that workers on longterm sick leave s are still entitled to accrue the holidays due. How would you feel, as an employer, if someone in your team had been away sick for a year or more then told you they were taking six weeks holiday that they clamed they were due.
Of course, all such legislation is wonderful for the employees but do they pay for this? Yes, they do in the shrinking number of jobs that are available. But so also do you and I foot the bill ... and so does every other tax payer. The reason is that more and more employers are looking at ways to run their businesses with fewer employees: some cut numbers; others do not replace leavers and retirees; they use freelances or part-timers on short contracts; companies toughen up employment contracts; minimise non-statutory benefits.
Add to this the well-intentioned but dangerously threatening action by unions and you have a recipe for national disaster. Union efforts to protect public servants and their incomes (inflated through 'comparison' with the private sector, now collapsed), will pose an impossible threat to a weak government that will inevitably give in and allow us to pick up the bill - whilst these same politicians and civil servants relax behind protected salaries.
As the nation tries to recover from the recession, such liberal largesse with the employers' money simply cannot be afforded. And at the international level, workers in countries without such generous side-benefits may find their jobs are more secure than those of our UK colleagues, even where the British workers may actually be better or more productive. What future UK Vauxhall?
And more on the dole adds to the tax bill of all in the shrinking minority that actually work to support themselves and their families.
Roger Haywood is the only person to have chaired both the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He also helped form and chaired the world's largest network of independent business communications consultancies.
He comments on public relations issues and has set up a new website to help young people get that vital first job in public relations: for more information click on www.getstartedinpr.com
For more details go to The Daily Telegraph on-line news service at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6190826/Claim-back-holidays-lost-to-sickness-says-European-Court-of-Justice.html
European Court of Justice
Workers who fall ill during their holidays could now claim the time back from their employers following a landmark European Court of Justice judgment that lawyers warned was open to abuse.