Nobody wants to die whilst still in employment. Some of us have visions of the latter stages of our lives being a peaceful existence – pottering around the garden, spending 6 months of the year in warmer climates, or perhaps playing with the grandchildren.
In the sad case of Mr Bollacke, he died whilst still employed by Klass & Kock BV and his widow, Mrs Bollacke (his sole heir) submitted a claim for outstanding holiday entitlement that her husband was unable to take due to serious ill health before his death.
Due to serious illness, Mr Bollacke was unfit to attend work and consequently accumulated in excess of 140 days annual leave from when he first became ill in 2009 and until his death in November 2010.
The case was referred by the German Higher Labour Court to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) asking whether the entitlement to paid leave is lost without giving rise to an allowance in lieu of outstanding leave when the employment relationship ends because of a worker’s death.
The European Court of Justice rejected that the death of a worker extinguished his or her right to paid annual leave. Indeed, the ECJ ruled that employees who had died with outstanding holiday allowance should not be penalised for failing to take all accrued holiday before their death and should be paid this. Furthermore, the Court ruled that “the allowance did not depend on a prior application by the interested party”.
The good news for Mrs Bollacke is that she will inherit the payment of her late husband’s accrued holiday pay. How will this impact on other employment rights on the death of an employee? We will have to wait and see.
Click here to read the details of this case.
