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Working time: Relationship between annual leave entitlement and sickness absence

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    Stringer and others v HM Revenue and Customs sub nom Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Ainsworth and others; Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund [2009] IRLR 214 ECJ (0 other reports)

In Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund; Stringer and others v Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs Cases C-350/06 and C-520/06 ECJ, the ECJ has held that the Working Time Directive allows member states to prevent workers from taking annual leave during periods of sickness, provided that they are permitted to take it at some other time. If sickness prevents a worker from taking his or her annual leave entitlement, it must be carried over into the next leave year. Workers whose employment is terminated cannot have their payment in lieu of annual leave reduced on account of a period of sickness prior to the dismissal.