This is just amazing:

Claim back holidays lost to sickness, says European Court of Justice
Workers who fall ill during their holidays could now claim the time back from their employers following a landmark European Court of Justice judgment that lawyers warned was open to abuse.
The court ruled that employees had the right to ask for statutory leave to be “reallocated” when it was spoilt by sickness.
Under the terms of the judgement, employees would even be allowed to carry any annual leave ruined by illness over into the next holiday year.
The ruling is effectively a new interpretation of the European Working Time Directive on workers’ hours, which applies in Britain across the entire private and public sector.
Leading employment lawyers warned it would be costly for businesses and that it left “the door open for abuse” by unscrupulous employees seeking to bolster their holiday entitlement by simply claiming to have a cold or flu while on leave.
A worker could phone up while on holiday and report in sick in the normal way – taking the day off sick, rather than counting it against their annual leave entitlement.
The decision has its origins in a separate ruling on a case brought by a group of British workers earlier this year which said that workers were entitled to accrue holiday during sick leave. However, that had left open the question of what would happen if sickness coincided with scheduled leave.
The new ruling, over a case in Spain, is likely to mean that employers will end up paying for both their employees’ sickness absence and a rescheduled holiday.
Owen Warnock, a partner at the law firm Eversheds, said: “Many employers take the view that if an employee is sick while on holiday, that is just bad luck for them.
“The European court has now said that this is not allowed by the working time directive.

What’s next? What if you’re just a bit blue on your next vacation? What if it rains when you visit EuroDisney? How would it work if you got so plastered the first night you were too hungover to enjoy yourself the rest of the week? And what happens if your favorite girl at the brothel in Amsterdam is out of town for your vacation jaunt? What if your teenage kids decide to be particularly petulant on your trip to Wallyworld? All of this is the employer’s fault?

And some wonder why Europeans have high unemployment. Hiring a worker is like adopting a kid over there. Once someone’s on the payroll, the employer is on the hook for everything and, in some countries at least, it’s next to impossible to fire anybody.