The Workplace Relations Commission recommended that a public body pay an accountant €500 after finding it unreasonable to refuse her accrued flexi leave during her final month at work. The recommendation was dated 18 November 2024.
The worker said she had built up flexi leave but was not allowed to take it before leaving. The employer said its finance department was busy. The officer found that the handbook did not prohibit taking accrued leave at a particular time. Its policy allowing banked leave to carry into the next year had also led the worker to expect she could take it in January.
The officer recommended €500 compensation for the unfair treatment and its effects, saying the payment was not wages and was not subject to taxes or charges. A separate complaint about a public-sector pay increase was not upheld: the employer had learned of the increase only after the worker left.