European Court of Justice Rules on Conflict Between Annual Leave and Sick Leave
The European Court of Justice recently handed down its preliminary ruling in Pereda v. Madrid Movilidad SA (C-277/08), holding that a worker who is on sick leave during a period of previously scheduled annual leave has the right, on request, to take that leave during a period which does not coincide with the period of sick leave. Stated differently, if a worker has arranged a period of annual leave but in fact is sick during some or all of that period, he or she may ask the employer to reschedule the leave for a period when the employee is not sick.
In this case, Vicente Pereda worked as a specialist driver for Madrid Movilidad. In accordance with a collective agreement, a planned staff leave schedule for 2007 was drawn up and Pereda was allocated a period of leave from July 16 to August 14, 2007. However, as a result of an accident at work on July 3, 2007, Pereda was unable to work until August 13, 2007. Therefore, he only had two days of annual leave when he was not simultaneously on sick leave. Pereda asked his employer to allocate a new period of annual leave, but the employer refused. As a result, Pereda sued.
The case will now be reverted to the Spanish national courts, which will have to decide the final outcome of Pereda's challenge consistently in light of the ECJ's preliminary ruling.
This entry was written by Anita Vadgama.
Trackbacks (0)
Links to blogs that reference this article
Trackback URL
http://www.globalemploymentlaw.com/mtc/mt-tb.cgi/362
http://www.globalemploymentlaw.com/mtc/mt-tb.cgi/362
Comments (0)
Read through and enter the discussion with the form at the end