— Carry-over and possible loss of leave
Similarly, national law can lay down conditions for exercising the right to paid annual leave, including the conditions for carry-over at the end of a leave year. As concerns carry-over, the Court has held that ‘while the positive effect of paid annual leave for the safety and health of the worker is deployed fully if it is taken in the year prescribed for that purpose, namely the current year, the significance of that rest period in that regard remains if it is taken during a later period’ (256). The Court has elaborated on the need to provide for carry-over if the worker whose right to annual leave is lost has not had the opportunity to exercise that right (257). The Court took the view that carry-over is inevitable where periods of leave guaranteed by EU law (258) overlap, and in the case of sick leave (259). The Court has also held that where an employer refuses to remunerate the annual leave to which the worker was entitled, the worker’s right to carry-over remains until the termination of the employment relationship (260). Loss of leave entitlement is consequently limited to cases in which the worker has actually had the opportunity to exercise that right (261). For instance, it cannot lapse at the end of the reference period laid down by national law if the worker was on sick leave for the whole or part of the leave year and has not had the opportunity to take annual leave (262), save for the exception admitted by the Court that allows the carry-over period to be limited in the case of long-term sick leave (see Part C). Furthermore, it cannot lapse automatically and without prior verification whether the employer had in fact enabled the worker, in particular through the provision of sufficient information, to exercise his or her right to leave (263).
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.