Dead workers in Germany have a right to any annual leave which they've
failed to claim at the time of their death, Europe’s top court ruled on
Thursday.
In a case brought by a widow from North Rhine-Westphalia, the European
Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled she was entitled to money from her dead
husband’s employer for the holiday he had failed to claim.
The dead man, named only as Mr Bollacke, worked for the retailer K+K
from August 1998 to November 2010, when he died.
He had been seriously ill since 2009 and was unable to work for a long
period of time. When he died he had 140.5 days of annual leave
outstanding, worth €16,000.
Mr Bollacke’s widow asked supermarket K+K for the money in lieu of the
annual leave not taken by her husband.
But they turned her down, saying she couldn't inherit her dead husband’s unclaimed holidays.
In 2011 she took her case to the Higher Labor Court in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, which also rejected her claim.
But she then appealed the court’s decision and the Hamm court referred the case to the ECJ in Luxembourg.
In a judgment published on Thursday, the ECJ stressed the right to paid holidays was “particularly important”.
"The Court has previously held that where the employment relationship
has terminated, the worker is entitled to an allowance in lieu in order
to prevent all enjoyment of that right to leave being lost," it said.
Overruling German law, which states you lose your right to holidays when
you die, the court said: “Receipt of financial compensation if the
employment relationship ends by reason of the worker’s death ensures the
effectiveness of the entitlement to leave.”
It will now be up to the labor court in Hamm to make a decision on the
case.
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