EU: the Court of Justice of the European Union rules that the allowance in lieu of annual leave not taken by a worker due to death should be paid to that worker’s estate

On 06 November a CJEU ruling in two joint German cases applied EU Directive 2003/88 on working time, which runs counter to German legislation that leads to the loss of annual paid leave untaken by a worker prior to that worker’s death. The CJEU has ruled that in such situations an allowance in lieu should be paid to the deceased worker’s estate. Again on 06 November the CJEU handed down two other rulings, also vis-à-vis German legislation, in which it finds that EU law precludes a worker from automatically losing the days of paid annual leave and, consequently, his right to an allowance in lieu of the leave which is not taken, solely because he did not apply for leave before the employment relationship ended.