The European Court of Justice has recently decided that employees who are on sick leave will still accrue the right to paid holiday leave. This applies whether they are on long term or short term sick leave. In the case they considered, an employee was injured some weeks before a pre-booked holiday. He was allowed to cancel the annual leave he had booked, and take the time off as sickness absence. That may not seem too unreasonable in the circumstances. The wider ramifications of the decision have caused a lot of concern with employers.