header-logo header-logo

Sickness is no holiday

25 September 2009
Issue: 7386 / Categories: Legal News , Employment
printer mail-detail

ECJ rules employees can claim back annual leave lost to illness

Employees who fall ill during their annual leave are entitled to reclaim their holidays to make up for the days they’ve missed, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled.

In Pereda v Madrid Movilidad SA: C-277/08, the court considered the case of a specialist driver, Vicente Pereda, who had to take six weeks off his job in Madrid as the result of an accident. This overlapped with his annual leave. His employer refused his request for further holidays once he had recovered. The court found that Pereda was entitled to his annual leave at a time that did not coincide with his being on sick leave, under the Working Time Directive.

The court’s judgment stated: “It is...common ground that the purpose of the entitlement to paid annual leave is to enable the worker to rest and to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure. The purpose of the entitlement to sick leave is different. It is given to the worker so that he can recover from being ill.”

The judgment concluded: “[T]he answer to the question referred is that Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88 must be interpreted as precluding national provisions or collective agreements which provide that a worker who is on sick leave during a period of annual leave scheduled in the annual leave planning schedule of the undertaking which employs him does not have the right, after his recovery, to take his annual leave at a time other than that originally scheduled, if necessary outside the corresponding reference period.” 
 

Issue: 7386 / Categories: Legal News , Employment
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll