Labour Court upholds failed annual leave claim against Bayer Diagnostics

The Labour Court upheld a recommendation that an unnamed worker’s claim for five days of lost annual leave from Bayer Diagnostics fail. The decision was signed on 6 October 1997. The worker lost the leave after 116 days of illness absence in 1994 under a policy that stopped holiday accrual after 16 weeks of sick leave. The Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union argued the change had been made without agreement and sought the five days. Bayer said employees had accepted the qualifying period in 1993. The Court said it had no grounds to change the recommendation and advised the parties to negotiate through normal industrial relations channels.