Case C-194/12

Concepción Maestre García

v

Centros Comerciales Carrefour SA

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Social de Benidorm)

‛Article 99 of the Rules of Procedure — Directive 2003/88/EC — Organisation of working time — Entitlement to paid annual leave — Annual leave scheduled by the undertaking coinciding with sick leave — Entitlement to take annual leave at another time — Allowance in lieu of annual leave not taken’

Summary — Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 21 February 2013

1. Social policy — Protection of the safety and health of workers — Organisation of working time — Entitlement to paid annual leave — Particularly important principle of European Union social law

   (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 31(2); European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88, Art. 7(1))

2. Social policy — Protection of the safety and health of workers — Organisation of working time — Entitlement to paid annual leave — Purpose

   (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88, Art. 7(1))

3. Social policy — Protection of the safety and health of workers — Organisation of working time — Entitlement to paid annual leave — National provisions or collective agreements under which it is not possible for a worker who is on sick leave during a period of annual leave to take that annual leave at another time — Incompatibility with Union law — Scheduling of leave, taking into account the workers’ interests

   (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88, Art. 7(1))

4. Social policy — Protection of the safety and health of workers — Organisation of working time — Entitlement to paid annual leave — Interpretation of national legislation that permits the payment of an allowance in lieu of the period of annual leave which the worker was not able to take as a result of work incapacity — Incompatibility with Union law

   (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88, Art. 7)

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 16, 17, 24)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 18, 19)

3.  Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time must be interpreted as precluding an interpretation of the national legislation according to which a worker who is on sick leave during a period of annual leave scheduled unilaterally in the annual leave planning schedule of the undertaking which employs him does not have the right, following the end of his sick leave, to take his annual leave at a time other than that originally scheduled, if necessary outside the corresponding reference period, for reasons connected with production or organisation of the undertaking.

   If the interests of the undertaking preclude acceptance of the worker’s request for a new period of annual leave, the employer is obliged to grant the worker a different period of annual leave proposed by him which is compatible with those interests.

   (see paras 21, 23, 25, operative part 1)

4.  Article 7 of Directive 2003/88 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time must be interpreted as precluding an interpretation of the national legislation that permits, while the contract of employment is in force, the payment of an allowance in lieu of the period of annual leave which the worker was not able to take as a result of work incapacity.

   (see para. 30, operative part 2)