Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 29 November 2017 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division) — United Kingdom) — C. King v The Sash Window Workshop Ltd, Richard Dollar

(Case C-214/16) ¹

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Protection of the safety and health of workers — Directive 2003/88/EC — Organisation of working time — Article 7 — Allowance in lieu of annual leave paid on termination of the employment relationship — National legislation requiring a worker to take his annual leave without the remuneration in respect of that leave being established)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division)

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: C. King

Defendants: The Sash Window Workshop Ltd, Richard Dollar

Operative part of the judgment

Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time, and the right to an effective remedy set out in Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as meaning that, in the case of a dispute between a worker and his employer as to whether the worker is entitled to paid annual leave under the first of those articles, they preclude the worker having to take his leave first before establishing whether he has the right to be paid in respect of that leave.

Article 7 of Directive 2003/88 must be interpreted as precluding national provisions or practices that prevent a worker from carrying over and, where appropriate, accumulating, until termination of his employment relationship, paid annual leave rights not exercised in respect of several consecutive reference periods because his employer refused to remunerate that leave.

____________

¹ OJ C 222, 20.6.2016.