Holiday pay and deceased employees

The heirs of workers who die while in an employment relationship have the right to financial compensation in lieu of the worker’s untaken paid annual leave, found the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

In Wuppertal v Bauer and Willmeroth Broßonn the CJEU held that the Working Time Directive and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms grants that heir the right to financial compensation.

Writing in Daniel Barnett’s Employment Law Bulletin, Georgina Churchhouse, Pupil at 12 KBW, also noted that the CJEU highlighted that relevant European laws had vertical direct effect, so that incompatible national laws would be disapplied in a dispute between a public employer and an individual.

“However, Article 7 of the Working Time Directive did not have horizontal direct effect so as to disapply incompatible national law in a dispute between an individual and a private employer,” said Churchhouse.

“That can be contrasted with Article 31(2) of the Charter, which did have horizontal direct effect so as to disapply incompatible national law in a dispute between an individual and a private employer. The Article reflected the essential principle of EU social law of the right to paid annual leave.”