Court of Justice of the European Union.PRESS RELEASE No 123/11.Luxembourg, 22 November 2011.Press and Information.Judgment in Case C-214/10. KHS AG v Winfried Schulte. National rules may set a time limit on the expiry of the accumulation of annual paid leave as long as the carry over period is substantially longer than the period in which it is granted...
In that context, in order to uphold the right to paid annual leave, the objective of which is the protection of workers, the Court holds that any carry-over period must take into account the specific circumstances of a worker who is unfit for work for several consecutive reference periods. Thus, the carry-over period must inter alia ensure that the worker can have, if need be, rest periods that may be staggered, planned in advance and available in the longer term. In addition, any carry-over period must be substantially longer than the reference period in respect of which it is granted.
Moreover, that period must also protect the employer from the risk that a worker will accumulate periods of absence of too great a length, and from the difficulties for the organisation of work which such periods might entail.
Therefore, the Court considers that a carry-over period of 15 months, as in this case, may reasonably be envisaged as it is not contrary to the purpose of the right to paid annual leave, in that it ensures that that right retains its positive effect for the worker as a rest period.
Accordingly, the answer given by the Court is that, in the case of a worker who is unfit for work for several consecutive reference periods, European Union law does not preclude national provisions or practices, such as collective agreements, which limit, by a carry-over period of 15 months on the expiry of which the right to paid annual leave lapses, the accumulation of entitlement to such leave...
