On 29 November, the CJEU ruled that a worker must be able to carry over and accumulate unexercised rights to paid annual leave when an employer does not put that worker in a position in which he is able to exercise his right to paid annual leave. This principle was particularly striking in so far as it was affirmed within the context of the self-employed worker who was considered as a salaried worker at the end of his professional career. National legislation (in this case UK legislation) that intends for annual paid holiday rights to expire if they are not taken up, when ‘false’ self-employed workers are not in a position to actually taken them up, runs counter to EU law.
Facts of the case. The complainant in this case worked for a company on the basis of a ‘self-employed commission-only contract’ from 1999 until he retired in 2012. Under that contract, the worker was paid on a commission-only basis. When he took annual leave, it was unpaid. Upon termination of his employment relationship, the worker sought to recover payment for his annual leave — taken and not paid, as well as not taken — for the entire period of his engagement. The company rejected the claim
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