Order — ECLI:EU:C:2013:398
Date: 2013-06-13
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Ninth Chamber
Subject matter: Social Policy
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary — Order of the Court (Ninth Chamber), 13 June 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) 2. Social policy — Framework agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC — Directive 97/81 — Organisation of working time — Directive 2003/88 — Entitlement to paid annual leave — National legislation or practice laying down, during a move from full-time to part-time employment, a reduction in the right to paid annual leave accumulated during the period of full-time employment — Ex post calculation of paid annual leave according to the principle of pro rata temporis — Not permissible (European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88, Art. 7(1); Council Directive 97/81, as amended by Directive 98/23, Annex, clause 4, para. 2) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 27-29) 2. Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time and Clause 4(2) of the Framework Agreement on part-time work, which is annexed to Directive 97/81 concerning the framework agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, as amended by Directive 98/23, must be interpreted as precluding national provisions or a national practice, under which the number of days of paid annual leave which a full-time worker was unable to exercise during the reference period is, due to the fact that that worker moved to a scheme of part-time work, subject to a reduction which is proportional to the difference between the number of days of work per week carried out by that worker before and after such a move to part-time work. During a move from full-time employment to part-time employment, the principle of pro rata temporis, set out at Clause 4(2) of the Framework Agreement on part-time work, cannot be applied ex post to the right to paid annul leave accumulated during the period of full-time work, without, in particular, any objective reason capable of justifying such a reduction. (see paras 31, 36, 42, operative part)