The heirs of a deceased worker may claim from the latter's former employer an allowance in lieu of the paid annual leave not taken by the worker

The deceased worker's right to an allowance in lieu of leave which is not taken may be passed on by inheritance to his heirs

Judgment in Joined Cases C-569/16 and C-570/16 Stadt Wuppertal v Maria Elisabeth Bauer and Volker Willmeroth v Martina Broßonn

By today's judgment, the Court confirms that, under EU law, a worker's right to paid annual leave does not lapse upon his death. In addition, it states that the heirs of a deceased worker may claim an allowance in lieu of the paid annual leave not taken by the worker.

In the event that national law precludes that possibility and is therefore incompatible with EU law, the heirs may directly rely on EU law, both against a public and a private employer.

The Court accepts that the inevitable consequence of the death of the worker is that he can no longer enjoy the period of rest and relaxation attaching to the right to paid annual leave to which he was eligible. However, the temporal aspect constitutes only one of the two aspects of the right to paid annual leave, which constitutes an essential principle of EU social law and is expressly affirmed as a fundamental right in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
That fundamental right also includes the right to be paid during such leave, together with, as a right which is inseparable from the entitlement to ‘paid’ annual leave, the right to an allowance in lieu of annual leave not taken when the employment relationship ends.

This financial aspect is strictly pecuniary in nature, and is therefore intended to form part of the assets of the person concerned, so that the death of the latter cannot retroactively deprive his estate and, consequently, those to whom it is to be transferred by inheritance, of the effective enjoyment of the financial aspect of the right to paid annual leave.

Where it is impossible to interpret national legislation (such as the German legislation in question) in a manner consistent with EU law, the national court, hearing a dispute between the heir of a deceased worker and the former employer of that worker, must disregard the national legislation and ensure that the heir is granted, at the expense of the former employer, an allowance in lieu of the paid annual leave acquired under EU law and not taken by that worker before his death.
That obligation is binding on the national court irrespective of whether the dispute involves an employer who is a public authority or an employer who is a private individual.

Full text of the judgment is published on the CURIA website