Holidays

A. In 2009, the European Court of Justice, in the joined cases of Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (C-350/06); Stringer and Others v HMRC (C-520/06) ruled on the meaning of Article 7 of working time directive.

It noted that the minimum period of annual leave (four weeks a year for someone working five days a week) cannot be substituted — other than where the employment is at an end. It found that the meaning of Article 7 is that where an individual is off sick they must be entitled to defer taking their holiday (the treatment of days of holiday above the minimum required under the directive is different).

Therefore, if your member is not credited with the days lost or does not receive pay in lieu if they leave their employment before taking those re-credited days, they will be able to bring a claim in the tribunal. The claim would be for a breach of the working time directive and/or a claim for unlawful deduction from wages.