Brussels, 22/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - A worker who becomes unfit for work during paid annual leave is entitled at a later point in time to a period of leave of the same duration as that of the sick leave. That right exists irrespective of the point at which the incapacity for work arose.
The EU Court of Justice gave this ruling, on Thursday 21 June (Case C-78/11), in response to the Tribunal Supremo (Spain's Supreme Court), which asked the CJEU whether the directive on certain aspects of working hours (2003/88/EC) precludes the Spanish legislation under which a worker who becomes unfit for work during a period of paid leave is not entitled subsequently to that annual leave when it coincides with the period of unfitness for work.
The Court points out that the regulation is not in line with the directive. It first and foremost points out that the right to paid annual leave is a social entitlement in the Union embodied in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and that the aim of the right is to allow the worker to rest and to have a period for relaxation and leisure. This purpose of the entitlement to sick leave is different, since it enables a worker to recover from an illness that has caused him to be unfit for work.
On this basis, the Court confirms its earlier finding (ruling for C-2777/08), whereby a worker on sick leave before the beginning of a period of paid leave has the right to take his legitimate annual leave at another time than that coinciding with the period of sick leave. The Court adds that the point in time at which the temporary incapacity arose is irrelevant - the worker is entitled to take paid annual leave which coincides with a period of sick leave at a later point in time, irrespective of the point at which the incapacity for work arose. It would, the Court states, be arbitrary and contrary to the purpose of entitlement to paid annual leave to grant workers the right to paid leave only if they are already unfit for work when the period of paid annual leave commences. The Court also points out in this respect that the new period of annual leave (corresponding to the duration of the overlap between the period of leave initially scheduled and the period of sick leave to which the worker is entitled after he has recovered) may be scheduled, if necessary, outside the corresponding reference period for annual leave. (FG/transl.jl)