European Union – Employment. Article 7 of Directive (EC) 2003/88 and of art 31(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union should be interpreted as precluding national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which, where the employment relationship was terminated by the death of the worker, the right to paid annual leave acquired under those provisions and not taken by the worker before his death lapsed without being able to give rise to a right to an allowance in lieu of that leave which was transferable to the employee's legal heirs by inheritance. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in proceedings concerning the refusal by the applicants, respectively, in their capacity as former employers of the respondents' late husbands, to pay the respondents an allowance in lieu of the paid annual leave not taken by their spouses before their death.