When annotation class is not available, javac fails compiling a class that uses the annotated class

I have following directory structure:

.
./Main.java
./sahoo/Sless.class
./sahoo/Sless.java
./sahoo/SlessBean.class
./sahoo/SlessBean.java
./lib/javax/ejb/Local.class
./lib/javax/ejb/Local.java

./Main.java
-----------
class Main{
 public static void main(String... args){
   sahoo.SlessBean sless;
 }
}

./sahoo/SlessBean.java
----------------------
package sahoo;
@javax.ejb.Local(sahoo.Sless.class)
public class SlessBean implements Sless {
 public void bar() {}
}

./sahoo/Sless.java
------------------
package sahoo;
public interface Sless {
 void bar();
}

When I try compiling:
javac Main.java

I get the following error:

Main.java:3: cannot find symbol
symbol : class SlessBean
location: package sahoo
   sahoo.SlessBean sless;
        ^
1 error

But when I compile with lib in classpath, i.e.
javac -classpath .:lib Main.java
it compiles fine.

So I don't understand why I need javax.ejb.Local to be in my compilation class path. More over, even if I needed that class, I would expect a better error message from compiler.
javax.ejb.Local.class is defined as follows:
lib/javax/ejb/Local.java
------------------------
package javax.ejb;
 
public @interface Local{
 Class[] value() default {};
}