The applicants in the main proceedings are pilots employed by the defendant. In accordance with the terms of employment agreed on between the defendant and the competent trade union, the amount of paid annual leave corresponds exclusively to one part of the whole salary, the fixed annual sum, not taking into account the supplementary payments depending on the time spent flying and the time spent away from base. The applicants contending that the paid annual leave should be calculated on the basis of all three components, they brought action. The Supreme Court (in this case the forth level of jurisdiction!) decided to refer to ECJ.

 

 

Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time and Clause 3 of the Agreement annexed to Council Directive 2000/79/EC of 27 November 2000 concerning the European Agreement on the Organisation of Working Time of Mobile Workers in Civil Aviation, concluded by the Association of European Airlines (AEA), the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), the European Cockpit Association (ECA), the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and the International Air Carrier Association (IACA), must be interpreted as meaning that an airline pilot is entitled, during his annual leave, not only to the maintenance of his basic salary, but also, first, to all the components intrinsically linked to the performance of the tasks which he is required to carry out under his contract of employment and in respect of which a monetary amount, included in the calculation of his total remuneration, is provided and, second, to all the elements relating to his personal and professional status as an airline pilot. It is for the national court to assess whether the various components comprising that worker’s total remuneration meet those criteria.