Employer has booked holiday leave instead of sickness (Well known Supermarket)

[Donel361]

Hello,
My mother has to have an operation tomorrow which she notified her employer of well in advance. She was recently referred to the companies occupational health unit who said the condition is likely to be covered by the equality act and, as such, any absences relating to it should be dealt with in accordance with their disability policy.* Her line manager approached her today and said don't worry about your operation, I have booked a weeks annual leave for you to take from Monday. My mother doesn't want to take annual leave and will be reporting in sick on Monday. Are the company allowed to force someone to go on annual leave instead of reporting in sick and following that procedure. It is likely she could be off longer than a week following the operation. Any advice is greatly appreciated as all he has done is add to her worry on the eve of going in to hospital. Thanks in advance.**

[ULA]

Hi, I hope your mother's operation goes well.

Given the amount of time your mother will be off i.e. 7 days or more she will be given a Fitness to Work certificate which will record that she has been unable to work due to the operation and her post recovery.

It is legally possible for an employer to force employees to take their holiday allowance at certain times. However, for that to happen your mother should have been given a minimum notice period as per the Working Time Regulations. This notice period has to be at least twice as long as the holiday required to be taken. In this case this has not happened.

In addition you have the possibility that the condition your mother has is covered under the Equality Act and it would appear that the company has a policy related to this. May be worth trying to get a hold of this.