Legal Advice on Overtime and Sickness

Questioner

Last year I accrued overtime during my work as an operating room assistant. These are then carried over to the following year. The past two weeks these overtime hours (68) were planned to go on vacation. Unfortunately, I broke my ankle on December 24, 2012 and have been unable to work since then. Now my employer does not want to convert the accrued overtime from last year into sick days and I can whistle for my hours. My question is, is that correct? Thank you in advance for your answer.

Lawyer

No, the employer must either have the overtime taken as free time or paid out. So it cannot be the case that you can whistle for those hours. If it has been agreed with your employer that you will carry over the hours to this year and you are unable to take them now due to illness, you should be given the opportunity to take those days during the year.

Questioner

Thank you very much for your quick response. I will report this to my employer.