Cases C-190/22, Paid Leave:

FI – v – Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, reference lodged by the Bundesarbeitsgericht (Germany) on 11 March 2022

Do Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC or Article 31(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union preclude an interpretation of a rule of national law such as Paragraph 7(3) of the German Bundesurlaubsgesetz (Federal Law on Leave; ‘the BUrIG’) according to which a worker’s entitlement to paid annual leave acquired during the work phase of a progressive retirement relationship but as yet unexercised is forfeited in the release phase at the end of the holiday year or at a later time?
Should the Court of Justice answer Question 1 in the negative: Do Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC or Article 31(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union preclude an interpretation of a rule of national law such as Paragraph 7(3) BUrlG according to which the as yet unexercised entitlement to paid annual leave of a worker who, in the course of the holiday year, moves from the work phase to the release phase is forfeited at the end of the holiday year or at a later time if the employer – without having previously fulfilled its obligations to cooperate in the realisation of the leave entitlement – has granted the worker the entire annual leave in line with his or her application for a period immediately prior to the start of the release phase, but the leave entitlement could not be fulfilled – at least in part – because the worker became unfit for work due to illness after the leave was granted?