The Court, in this case, was asked to give a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of the Working Time Directive, which amongst other things, gives EU workers the right to a minimum number of days paid holiday each year.
The Court noted that the entitlement to paid annual leave is an important principle of European Union law and said that the right to annual leave cannot be interpreted restrictively. It went on to say that annual leave and sick leave have different purposes, in that the purpose of entitlement to paid annual leave is to enable workers to rest and to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure, whereas the purpose of sick leave is to enable a worker to recover from an illness that has caused him to be unfit for work.
The Court referred to an earlier ruling it had given in a case known as Pereda. Pereda concerned a worker who was unfit for work and on sick leave before their period of paid annual leave was due to start. The Court in Pereda decided that the worker had the right to use his annual leave at another time which did not coincide with his sick leave. In this case, however, the Court went further and decided that the point at which temporary incapacity arises is irrelevant; it did not have to be before the booked leave. It would, the Court said, be arbitrary and contrary to the purpose of entitlement to paid annual leave to grant the worker that right only if he is already unfit for work when the period of paid annual leave begins.
A worker who is sick during a period of annual leave cannot, therefore, be precluded from taking the “lost” holiday at a later date, even if their illness or other incapacity for work only started on holiday.
Case reference: Anged v Fasga.