BRUSSELS: The European Union?s highest
court ruled on Wednesday that employers
must provide
paid annual leave for employees in a case that could impact
workers in the ?gig? economy. The case involved a salesman for The Sash Window Workshop Ltd in Britain employed from 1999 until 2012 on a self-employed commission-only contract with unpaid
annual leave. The salesman took the company to
court seeking payment for leave, taken and not
paid as well as for days not taken. A British
court ruled that he was a ?worker? under EU law, but UK judges asked the European
court of Justice whether the company was obliged to pay him for the
leave he had not actually taken. The EU
court said it was a fundamental right for
workers to be able to rest and that such a right would not be guaranteed if the salesman was forced to take unpaid
leave and only then be able to bring action to claim payment.
Companies could limit the accumulation of
paid leave, with
workers losing their right to
leave if they did not take holidays within a given period. However, a company should not be enriched by extinguishing a worker?s right to
paid leave. ?An employer that does not allow a worker to exercise his right to
paid annual leave must bear the consequences,? the
court said. The ruling could have an impact on employment in the so-called ?gig? economy, which include short-term and freelance contracts rather than permanent jobs.
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