Alicja Sobczyszyn v Szkoła Podstawowa w Rzeplinie.
Date: 2016-06-30
19


First, as is clear from the very wording of Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88, a provision from which no derogation is permitted by that directive, every worker is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks. That right to paid annual leave must be regarded as a particularly important principle of EU social law, the implementation of which by the competent national authorities must be confined within the limits expressly laid down by Directive 2003/88 itself (judgment of 10 September 2009 in Vicente Pereda, C‑277/08, EU:C:2009:542, paragraph 18 and the case-law cited).
20


Secondly, the right to paid annual leave is, as a principle of EU social law, not only particularly important, but is also expressly laid down in Article 31(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which Article 6(1) TEU recognises as having the same legal value as the Treaties (judgments of 22 November 2011 in KHS, C‑214/10, EU:C:2011:761, paragraph 37, and of 3 May 2012 in Neidel, C‑337/10, EU:C:2012:263, paragraph 40).
21


Thirdly, the right to paid annual leave cannot be interpreted restrictively (see judgment of 22 April 2010 in Zentralbetriebsrat der Landeskrankenhäuser Tirols, C‑486/08, EU:C:2010:215, paragraph 29).
22


In addition, the Court has already held that Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88 does not preclude, as a rule, national legislation which lays down conditions for the exercise of the right to paid annual leave expressly conferred by the directive that include even the loss of that right at the end of a leave year, provided, however, that the worker whose right to paid annual leave is lost has actually had the opportunity to exercise that right (judgment of 10 September 2009 in Vicente Pereda, C‑277/08, EU:C:2009:542, paragraph 19 and the case-law cited).
23


It is also clear from the Court’s case-law that the purpose of the right to paid annual leave is to enable the worker to rest and to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure (see judgment of 20 January 2009 in Schultz-Hoff and Others, C‑350/06 and C‑520/06, EU:C:2009:18, paragraph 25).
24


The Court has inferred therefrom that, in the event of periods of annual leave and sick leave overlapping, Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88 must be interpreted as precluding national legislation or practices under which the right to paid annual leave is extinguished at the end of the leave year and/or of a carry-over period laid down by national law where the worker has been on sick leave, for the whole or part of the leave year, and therefore has not actually had the opportunity to exercise that right (see, in particular, judgments of 20 January 2009 in Schultz-Hoff and Others, C‑350/06 and C‑520/06, EU:C:2009:18, paragraph 49, and of 10 September 2009 in Vicente Pereda, C‑277/08, EU:C:2009:542, paragraph 19).
25


Indeed, the Court has held that the purpose of the right to paid annual leave, which is to enable the worker to rest and to enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure, is different from that of the right to sick leave, which is to enable the worker to recover from an illness (see, to this effect, judgment of 21 June 2012 in ANGED, C‑78/11, EU:C:2012:372, paragraph 19 and the case-law cited).
26


In the light of those differing purposes of the two types of leave, the Court has concluded that a worker who is on sick leave during a period of previously scheduled annual leave has the right, at his request and in order that he may actually use his annual leave, to take that leave during a period which does not coincide with the period of sick leave (see judgments of 10 September 2009 in Vicente Pereda, C‑277/08, EU:C:2009:542, paragraph 22, and of 21 June 2012 in ANGED, C‑78/11, EU:C:2012:372, paragraph 20).
32


Should the referring court have to conclude that the purposes do differ, the national legislation must lay down an obligation on the employer to grant the worker concerned a different period of annual leave proposed by him which is compatible with any overriding reasons relating to the interests of the employer, without excluding in advance the possibility that that period may fall outside the reference period for the annual leave in question (see, to this effect, judgment of 10 September 2009 in Vicente Pereda, C‑277/08, EU:C:2009:542, paragraphs 22 and 23).
33


As is clear from the Court’s case-law, while the positive effect of paid annual leave for the safety and health of the worker is deployed fully if it is taken in the year prescribed for that purpose, namely the current year, the significance of that rest period in that regard remains if it is taken during a later period (see judgments of 6 April 2006 in Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, C‑124/05, EU:C:2006:244, paragraph 30, and of 20 January 2009 in Schultz-Hoff and Others, C‑350/06 and C‑520/06, EU:C:2009:18, paragraph 30).