Case C-214/10

KHS AG

v

Winfried Schulte

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Landesarbeitsgericht Hamm)

(Organisation of working time – Directive 2003/88/EC – Right to paid annual leave – Lapse of right to paid annual leave not taken because of illness on the expiry of a period laid down by national rules)

Summary of the Judgment

Social policy – Protection of the safety and health of workers – Organisation of working time – Right to paid annual leave

(European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88, Art. 7(1))

Article 7(1) of Directive 2003/88 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time must be interpreted as not precluding national provisions or practices, such as collective agreements, which limit, by a carry-over period of 15 months on the expiry of which the right to paid annual leave lapses, the accumulation of entitlement to such leave of a worker who is unfit for work for several consecutive reference periods.

(see para. 44, operative part)