On Thursday 18 January, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in case C-218/22 that EU law precluded national legislation prohibiting the payment of financial compensation for untaken paid annual leave to employees who voluntarily terminate their employment relationship.
In addition, the Court ruled that Member States could not invoke reasons relating to the control of public expenditure and the organisational needs of the public employer to limit this right of the worker.
This judgment is the result of a dispute between BU, a former public servant who held the post of executive instructor in the municipality of Copertino, Italy, from February 1992 to October 2016, and the municipality itself.
The municipality of Copertino had refused to pay this employee financial compensation for the 79 days of paid annual leave not taken at the date of termination of the employment relationship. The employee had voluntarily decided to resign in order to take early retirement.
The municipality had invoked a provision of Italian law according to which public sector workers are not entitled to financial compensation in lieu of unused paid annual leave at the end of the employment relationship.
BU referred the case to the court in Lecce (Italy), which is the referring court. This court decided to stay the proceedings, and, seeking clarification as to the compatibility of this rule with EU law, submitted a request for a preliminary ruling addressing two questions to the Court on the interpretation of Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time and Article 31(2) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Link to the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/afx (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)