UK employees are entitled to 28 days annual leave (5.6 weeks leave). If an employee is off sick for all or part of the year, should they carry over the 28 day equivalent or the 28 days under the Working Time Directive?

In Northern Ireland, the Directive is implemented domestically by the Working Time Regulations 2016 (the “Regulations”), which provide workers with the right to take 5.6 weeks' paid holiday in each leave year.

One important aspect to note about the Regulations in this context is that they provide that the first four weeks' statutory holiday may only be taken in the leave year in respect of which they are due. This would appear, it would seem, to prevent the carry-over of accrued holidays into a subsequent leave year. However, certain key decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union altered this principle in the context of sickness absence. 

In summary, this EU case law