Pregnancy discrimination: Annual and maternity leave mutually exclusive

In Merino Gomez v Continental Industrias del Caucho SA, the European Court of Justice holds:

• Pregnant workers have a dual entitlement to annual leave and maternity leave; the effect of the Working Time, Pregnant Workers and Equal Treatment Directives means that pregnant workers must be able to take their annual leave during a period other than their period of maternity leave.
• This includes cases in which the period of maternity leave coincides with the general period of annual leave fixed by a collective agreement for the entire workforce.
• In the present case therefore, the pregnant worker was entitled to take her annual leave immediately after her period of maternity leave.
• Where national law provided for a longer period of annual leave than the minimum of four weeks' paid leave provided for by the Working Time Directive, the Pregnant Workers Directive applied to extend entitlement of a pregnant worker to the longer period of annual leave.