European Union – Employment. Article 7 of Directive (EC) 2003/88 and the right to an effective remedy set out in art 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, should be interpreted as meaning that, in the case of a dispute between a worker and his employer as to whether the worker was entitled to paid annual leave under the first of those articles, they precluded the worker having to take his leave first before establishing whether he had the right to be paid in respect of that leave. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held, among other things, in a preliminary ruling in proceedings in the UK concerning the applicant worker's request for an allowance in lieu of annual leave not taken for the years 1999 to 2012.