Brussels, 24/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - National legislation (in this case, French), which makes entitlement to paid annual leave to a minimum of 10 days effectively worked, runs counter to the directive on working time (2003/88/EC), which makes it an obligation for member states to guarantee that workers have paid annual leave of at least four weeks. The right to annual leave cannot be affected by the fact that the worker is on sick leave, if duly justified, either further to illness or resulting from an accident at work or elsewhere.
With this ruling on Tuesday 24 January, in Case C-282/10, the EU Court of Justice answers a question put by the French Court of Cassation before which Ms Dominiguez brought a claim for 22.5 days' paid leave in respect of a period when she was off work for over a year due to an accident on the journey between her home and her place of work, which her employer refused to grant her and, in the alternative, refused compensation for.
French labour law makes annual paid leave entitlement conditional to employees having worked at least 10 days (one month before February 2008) with the same employer during a one year reference period. At the rate of 2.5 days per month of work (except if more favourable provisions are set out in the employment contract or collective agreements), the employee is therefore entitled to 30 working days of paid leave by virtue of the same legislation, which recognises, moreover, as periods having been effectively worked the periods off work due to an accident at work or professional illness.
In its ruling, the Court precludes the provision of the French legislation that makes annual paid leave subject to having worked 10 days at least. It points out that entitlement to paid annual leave must be regarded as a particularly important principle of EU social law, from which there can be no derogations and whose implementation by the national authorities must be confined within the limits expressly laid down by the directive. Concerning the specific case of workers absent from work due to sick leave during the reference period, the Court states that the directive does not make a distinction between such workers and those who have worked during the reference period.
It follows that, with regard to workers on duly granted sick leave, the right to paid annual leave conferred by that directive on all workers cannot be made subject by a member state to a condition that the worker has actually worked during the reference period. Secondly, it indicates that, according to the directive, a worker whether he is on sick leave during the reference period as a result of an accident at his place of work or elsewhere, or as the result of sickness of whatever nature or origin, cannot have his entitlement to paid annual leave affected.
Finally, the Court considers that the directive allows member states to make provision for a different period of paid annual leave, depending on the reason for the sick leave, provided that such period is equal to or exceeds the minimum period of four weeks laid down in the directive. (FG/transl.jl)