Heirs can claim financial compensation from a former public or private employer for paid annual leave not taken by a deceased worker, the EU Court of Justice confirmed in a judgement delivered on Tuesday 6 November (cases C-569/16 and C-570/16).
The sole heirs of two deceased workers asked their spouses' employers - a German municipality and private individual - for financial compensation for the days of annual leave they had not taken before their death. They contested the refusal of the two employers who rely on German law according to which such financial compensation is not part of the estate.
However, European case law establishes that the death of a worker does not extinguish his right to paid annual leave (Case C-118/13) (see EUROPE 11099).
When asked to interpret the Working Time Directive (2003/88) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Court endorsed the Advocate General's reasoning (see EUROPE 12029).
Under EU law, a worker's death does not extinguish his right to paid annual leave and the heirs of a deceased worker can claim compensation for the paid annual leave not taken by him, the European judge confirmed.
According to the Court, the right to paid annual leave is an essential principle of EU social law expressly enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. This fundamental right includes a right to payment during this leave as well as the right to compensation for leave not taken when the employment relationship ends.
This financial aspect is strictly of a financial nature, the Court considers, and is therefore intended to enter the worker's assets in such a way that a death does not retroactively deprive him of the enjoyment of those assets or deprive those to whom they devolve by succession.
Moreover, in the event that a regulation proves incompatible with EU law, heirs may directly invoke the European directive against both a public and a private employer. And the national court seized by a dispute must leave that regulation unenforceable. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)