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Ms Merino Gómez, an employee with Continental Industrias, was on maternity leave from 5 May to 24 August 2001. That period coincided with one of the periods of annual leave in her workshop, which had been fixed in a collective agreement.
When she none the less applied to take her annual leave following her maternity leave, Continental Industrias turned down her application.
Ms Merino Gómez brought proceedings before the Spanish courts. The national court has referred questions to the Court of Justice on directives concerning the organisation of working time, the protection of pregnant workers and equal treatment for men and women.
The Court started by observing that paid annual leave of at least four weeks, provided for by the directive on the organisation of working time, is a particularly important principle of Community social law. Its aim is to ensure that workers take a proper break. The purpose of maternity leave is different: such leave is intended to protect a woman's physical condition throughout the relevant period and to protect the special relationship between a woman and her child after childbirth.
Next, the directive concerning the protection of pregnant workers provides that, in principle, the rights connected to an employment contract must also be ensured in a case of maternity leave: including the right to paid annual leave.
Finally, the determination of when paid annual leave is to be taken falls within the scope of the directive on the principle of equal treatment. The directive also allows provisions to be adopted which are intended to protect women during pregnancy and the period following childbirth. Those provisions may not, however, result in unfavourable treatment regarding their working conditions.
Consequently, Community law requires that a worker should 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.
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