How much vacation is an employee entitled to?

There are often differences of opinion between employers and employees when it comes to determining annual leave. As there are different bases for calculating annual leave, important terms are explained here:

• Statutory minimum holiday entitlement
• Collective agreement regulations
• Voluntarily granted additional leave
• Vacation entitlement for part-time work
• Vacation entitlement for fixed-term employment contracts
• Special regulations

Statutory minimum holiday entitlement

The legal basis for the entitlement to annual leave is regulated by the Federal Leave Act. According to the law, the minimum entitlement for full-time employees is four weeks' leave per year. The actual number of vacation days depends on the number of working days per week.

With a 6-day working week (including Saturday), the vacation entitlement is 24 working days. If you only work 5 days a week, you get at least 20 vacation days.

Collective agreements and voluntary additional leave

In many sectors, trade unions representing employees and employers have regulated working conditions on a contractual basis. An important part of the collective agreement is the regulation of annual leave. In many professions and industries, annual leave of 30 working days with a 5-day working week is standard.

In addition, there are companies that negotiate their own contracts with their employees or that do not participate in collective bargaining agreements. In individual cases, this may result in more generous annual leave regulations.

Vacation entitlement for part-time work

Part-time employees who work every day just like their full-time colleagues are entitled to the same amount of annual leave. If, for example, a 5-day week with 30 days' vacation entitlement is agreed in the collective agreement, both employees receive 30 days' annual leave.

If the employee works part-time only 3 days a week, the calculation looks like this:

30 days leave divided by 5 working days x 3 part-time days = 18 days annual leave for the part-time employee.

Vacation entitlement for fixed-term employment contracts

The fixed term of an employment contract has no effect on the calculation of annual leave. The only requirement for vacation entitlement is that the employment contract must be valid for at least one month. If you are in doubt about how much vacation you are entitled to, you should have your employment contract checked by a specialist lawyer.

Special regulations

Employees with severe disabilities receive an additional 5 days' vacation per year with a 5-day working week in accordance with the law. Young people under the age of 18 also receive additional vacation days per year.

Have your new employment contract checked before you sign it. In addition to your vacation entitlement, our lawyers will also check all other important clauses.

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