February 2010
Mary Hanson

The decision, a new interpretation of the working time directive, follows the ECJ’s ruling on the Stringer case earlier this year that holiday continues to accrue during sick leave. Stringer found that a worker could carry leave forward, even into the next year, if he or she is “unable to take leave through no fault of his own”, but left open the question of what would happen if sickness coincided with scheduled leave. The court has now ruled that employees should have the right to ask for statutory leave to be reallocated in these circumstances, even into the next holiday year.

In the case of Pereda v Madrid Movilidad, the employee was injured shortly before the annual leave was due to start and was refused a request to move his holiday. But there is no reason in principle why an employee whose holiday had already started could not claim the right to reallocate leave, lawyers have warned.
For legal interpretation of the case read article at :
http://www.algoodbody.ie/en_nl/legal-news-2009.aspx?article=e1480508-52c1-4dd4-be51-4ef17b7a67a0

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