A worker who was not able to take all of his or her days of paid annual leave before resigning is entitled to an allowance in lieu of that leave
In its judgment in Case C-218/22, the Court confirms that EU law precludes a national law which prohibits the payment to a worker of an allowance in lieu of days of paid annual leave not taken when that worker voluntarily terminates the employment relationship.
It is only where the worker deliberately refrained from taking his or her days of leave, even though the employer encouraged him or her to do so and informed him or her of the risk of losing that right at the end of the leave year or carry-over period, that EU law does not preclude the loss of that right.
It follows that, unless the employer is able to show that it has exercised all due diligence in order to enable the worker actually to take the paid annual leave to which he is entitled, which is for the referring court to verify, it must be held that the loss of the right to such leave at the end of the authorised leave year or carry-over period, and, in the event of the termination of the employment relationship, the corresponding absence of a payment of an allowance in lieu of annual leave not taken, constitutes a failure to have regard, respectively, to Article 7(1) and Article 7(2) of Directive 2003/88 and Article 31(2) of the Charter.
This summary was put together and published by our Romanian member firm Suciu – Employment and Data Protection Lawyers on 19 January 2024. To read the full press release, click here.
Suciu – Employment and Data Protection Lawyers is a boutique multi-lingual firm (Romanian, English and German) dedicated to excel at developing creative, practical solutions to today’s most complex and sophisticated employment and data protection issues. They can advise you in Romania and in the UAE. For questions and advice, please reach out to our representative Andreea Suciu, Founder of the firm.
