Sick during vacation? Just take another vacation!

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**d-usa**

In Europe at least.

Source:

BRUSSELS — For most Europeans, almost nothing is more prized than their four to six weeks of guaranteed annual vacation leave. But it was not clear just how sacrosanct that time off was until Thursday, when Europe’s highest court ruled that workers who happened to get sick on vacation were legally entitled to take another vacation.

“The purpose of entitlement to paid annual leave is to enable the worker to rest and enjoy a period of relaxation and leisure,” the Court of Justice of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, ruled in a case involving department store workers in Spain. “The purpose of entitlement to sick leave is different, since it enables a worker to recover from an illness that has caused him to be unfit for work.”

With much of Europe mired in recession, governments struggling to reduce budget deficits and officials trying to combat high unemployment, the ruling is a reminder of just how hard it is to shake up long-established and legally protected labor practices that make it hard to put more people to work and revive sinking economies.

The workers originally won their case in a Spanish court, where they argued that collective bargaining agreements made a distinction between annual leave and sick leave that was recognized by Spanish law. The National Association of Large Distribution Businesses, known as Anged, appealed to the Supreme Court in Madrid, which then asked the Court of Justice for a ruling on how to apply European law covering working times.

The Court of Justice had previously ruled that a person who gets sick before going on vacation is entitled to reschedule the vacation, and on Thursday it said that right extended into the vacation itself.

“The point at which the temporary incapacity arose is irrelevant,” the court found.

The ruling applies across the European Union of 27 countries.

A spokesman for Anged said the association was not able to comment because it first needed to study the details of the ruling.

Spanish unions have stepped up protests in recent weeks against attempts by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to ease restrictions on hiring and firing and otherwise overhaul labor laws.

The ruling does not apply to the 25 percent of the Spanish labor force that is currently unemployed.

Raphael Minder contributed reporting from Madrid.

Sometimes, Europe really is better than the USA.

**Da Boss**

That's ridiculous, especially in the current climate. More evidence that judges are completely out of touch with the rest of the world.

Also, I am pretty sceptical of some of the claims made in this article. Rulings of this nature in one country don't apply across all EU states.

**Palindrome**

Da Boss wrote:That's ridiculous, especially in the current climate. More evidence that judges are completely out of touch with the rest of the world.

So you represent the rest of the world do you? I think that this is perfectly sensbile.

By your logic perhaps we should simply get rid of sick leave and annual leave entirely? After all the 'current climate' demands it.

**LordofHats**

Da Boss wrote:That's ridiculous, especially in the current climate. More evidence that judges are completely out of touch with the rest of the world.

Its not a judges job to be in touch with the world. Its his job to be in touch with the law.

**Ahtman**

LordofHats wrote:
Da Boss wrote:That's ridiculous, especially in the current climate. More evidence that judges are completely out of touch with the rest of the world.

Its not a judges job to be in touch with the world. Its his job to be in touch with the law.

Is this the part where we post a youtube video of Genisis's Invisible Touch?

**LordofHats**

What was that?

My work here is done.

**MrDwhitey**

I find this far better.

Spoiler:

**Dreadwinter**

Woah, you guys get 4-6 weeks vacation?

**dæl**

Dreadwinter wrote:Woah, you guys get 4-6 weeks vacation?

6 weeks generally (unless you're a teacher, then you get about 48 weeks off a year

).

**d-usa**

The USA is one of the very few countries where you don't get paid maternity/paternity leave.

**dæl**

d-usa wrote:The USA is one of the very few countries where you don't get paid maternity/paternity leave.

You don't get maternity leave? That's pretty shocking.

**d-usa**

We get a couple months, but no pay unless you save up sick leave or vacation days.

**hotsauceman1**

Yeah, Because our goverement is run by morons. Morons in the pocket of big business.

**Palindrome**

dæl wrote:
d-usa wrote:The USA is one of the very few countries where you don't get paid maternity/paternity leave.

You don't get maternity leave? That's pretty shocking.

Not to mention backward.

Maternity leave is mandatory in the UK (2-4 weeks depending) with 90% salary for 6 weeks and upto 33 weeks at a standard rate ( about £130 a week).

**SilverMK2**

Dreadwinter wrote:Woah, you guys get 4-6 weeks vacation?

Depends on the job. The UK has one of the lowest allowances in Europe, while countries like Spain pretty much never go to work and the US just likes to work people to death.

**Palindrome**

I get 36 days IIRC,so effectively 7 weeks.

**dæl**

Palindrome wrote:I get 36 days IIRC,so effectively 7 weeks.

thats 5 weeks chap.

**SilverMK2**

dæl wrote:
Palindrome wrote:I get 36 days IIRC,so effectively 7 weeks.

thats 5 weeks chap.

Depends if you add on bank holidays (and count weekends as "leave").

**Palindrome**

dæl wrote:
Palindrome wrote:I get 36 days IIRC,so effectively 7 weeks.

thats 5 weeks chap.

Weekends don't count. It does include bank holidays so in reality it is 6 full weeks off and various odd days. I also get a few unofficial days a year, I usually get at least 1 at christmas for example.

**dæl**

Palindrome wrote:
dæl wrote:
Palindrome wrote:I get 36 days IIRC,so effectively 7 weeks.

thats 5 weeks chap.

Weekends don't count. It does include bank holidays so in reality it is 6 full weeks off and various odd days. I also get a few unofficial days a year, I usually get at least 1 at christmas for example.

ofc, weekends.

Don't do mon-fri myself so I forget about such things.

**d-usa**

I am very lucky with my job for US standards, 5 weeks of leave. But never more than 2 weeks at once, and only once a year.

**Perkustin**

The French labour laws are even more ridiclous. No wonder they're going down the thomas crapper.

**Dreadwinter**

I had to work at my job a year before they gave me paid time off. 45 hours and they are still trying to screw me out of it.

**A Town Called Malus**

Perkustin wrote:The French labour laws are even more ridiclous. No wonder they're going down the thomas crapper.

The Germans get more holidays than us and their economy is doing better than ours, even with them bailing everybody else out, so I think it's safe to say that the amount of holiday a country gives its people does not directly correlate to its economic stability to the extent that you suggest.

Hell, Australia gets more days off than the UK. They get a day off for the Queens Birthday every year. The UK doesn't. That's how messed up our holidays are, other commonwealth countries get days off for the queens birthday but the country she actually lives in and has a hand in ruling doesn't.

**Kid_Kyoto**

d-usa wrote:The USA is one of the very few countries where you don't get paid maternity/paternity leave.

Ran into a Canadian friend of mine, he's about to start his 6 months paid paternity leave.

Must be nice living in a civilized country.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

A Town Called Malus wrote:
Perkustin wrote:The French labour laws are even more ridiclous. No wonder they're going down the thomas crapper.

The Germans get more holidays than us and their economy is doing better than ours, even with them bailing everybody else out, so I think it's safe to say that the amount of holiday a country gives its people does not directly correlate to its economic stability to the extent that you suggest.

Hell, Australia gets more days off than the UK. They get a day off for the Queens Birthday every year. The UK doesn't. That's how messed up our holidays are, other commonwealth countries get days off for the queens birthday but the country she actually lives in and has a hand in ruling doesn't.

Americans now work more days a year than the Japanese.

The Japanese.

Think about that for a minute...

Automatically Appended Next Post:

dæl wrote:
Palindrome wrote:I get 36 days IIRC,so effectively 7 weeks.

thats 5 weeks chap.

5 day work weeks, he's get 7 weeks and a day.

**Mannahnin**

I theoretically get two weeks (80hrs). I don't take them all at once.

**Kilkrazy**

What's wrong with having time off work?

It isn't prison.

**Ahtman**

Kilkrazy wrote:What's wrong with having time off work?

It isn't prison.

It is the philosophical dichotomy of either working to live or living to work. In the US we have gone with the latter, it would seem.

**Kilkrazy**

That's what they say about the Japanese too, but Japanese are famously collective about things.

What I don't understand is why, in such an individualistically minded culture as the USA, people seem so concerned to kowtow to the demands of the boss.

I mean, we can laugh at the Euros for all sorts of things but when you get down to it they don't take any gak from the system. They do what suits them.

**dogma**

It is interesting, abusing capitalism and making socialism a dirty word*.

*It took me 30 minutes to not curse my way to a ban. It is hard to make me angry, this does it; dirty socialist that I am.

Kilkrazy wrote:
What I don't understand is why, in such an individualistically minded culture as the USA, people seem so concerned to kowtow to the demands of the boss.

They think that, one day, they'll be boss. But they won't, or at least the vast majority won't. There's also the issue of majority choice, which is to say that when enough X chooses Y, all X are expected to choose Y.