Maternity and holidays

Case 5: The facts

The factory where Merino Gomez worked had an annual shutdown period when all employees were expected to take annual leave, with provision for limited exceptions. Gomez was on maternity leave during the period of the shutdown. When she asked to be allowed to take her holidays at a later date, her employer rejected the claim.

The ruling

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that a woman has the right to exercise her holiday leave rights, even where they would fall outside the workplace leave period because she was on maternity leave at the time. The court also held that, if the state gives more statutory annual leave than is required under the EU directive, it has to guarantee statutory rights in the exercise of annual leave for all of the holiday entitlement - not just for the four weeks required by EU law.

Gomez v Continental Industrias C-342/01