§1 Maternity leave

The Court has held that the purposes of maternity leave and paid annual leave are different: the first aims to protect a woman’s biological condition during and after pregnancy and to protect the special relationship between a woman and her child in the period which follows childbirth (315). This interpretation was deemed necessary ‘in order to guarantee observance of the rights connected with the employment contract of a worker in the event of maternity leave’ (316). Workers on maternity leave, who are, as a result, unable to work, must be guaranteed a right to paid annual leave and cannot be made subject to a condition to have actually worked. When absent on maternity leave during the reference period for paid annual leave they are to be treated in the same way as workers who have actually worked (317). Further, ‘a worker must be able to take her annual leave during a period other than the period of her maternity leave, including in a case in which the period of maternity leave coincides with the general period of annual leave fixed, by a collective agreement, for the entire workforce’ (318). This wording suggests that it is an absolute principle, and that, unlike the situation of sick leave (see below), the carry-over of paid annual leave cannot be limited. Indeed, the Court has insisted that ‘a period of leave guaranteed by Community law cannot affect the right to take another period of leave guaranteed by that law’ (319). In the light of the directive protecting pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (320), the Court added that this applies not only to the minimum paid annual leave of four weeks, but also to any additional leave provided for by national law (321).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-09-07