d1e7526-1-1__para__2
As stated above, while the Court has held that ‘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’, it has nevertheless taken the view that ‘that period did not lose his interest in this respect if it is taken during a later period’ (337). Therefore, where a worker who has been on sick leave for all or part of the leave year has not had the opportunity to take the paid annual leave, the Court has held that the right to paid annual leave cannot lapse at the end of the reference period (338) but that the worker should be allowed to carry it over, by scheduling it if necessary outside the reference period for annual leave (339).
Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-25 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.