What if your employee runs out of vacation days?

Youth vacation

Since vacation rights are accumulated based on the previous year's performance, new graduates will have a limited number of vacation days during their first year of work. To address this, youth vacation was created.

Youth vacation allows young people to supplement their statutory vacation days with additional leave, enabling them to take up to four weeks of vacation like other employees. The young person is not obliged to take youth vacation.

To be eligible for youth vacation, the young person must:

• Be under 25 years old on December 31 of the vacation credit year;

• Have completed their studies, apprenticeship, or training during the vacation credit year;

• Have worked as an employee for at least one month during the vacation credit year after completing their studies, apprenticeship, or training. The employment must include at least 13 effective (covered by remuneration on which social security contributions have been deducted) or equivalent working days in the execution of one or more employment contracts.

If the young person meets these conditions, they can enjoy youth vacation during the vacation year after using up their statutory vacation days based on effective and/or equivalent employment periods.

For youth vacation, the young person will receive an allowance from the ONEM (RVA). The allowance is 65% of the average daily salary during the first month in which youth vacation is taken. The wage to be taken into account is the maximum daily salary as defined in the unemployment regulations.

Senior vacation

An employee who has reached the age of 50 on 31 December of the vacation credit year is entitled to senior leave during the vacation year, if, as a result of a period of full unemployment or disability (one year of illness) during the vacation credit year, they are not entitled to four weeks of paid vacation during the vacation year.

In other words, in addition to the statutory vacation days based on effective and/or equivalent periods of employment, employees can apply for senior vacation up to a maximum of four weeks. Taking senior vacation is not mandatory.

Additionally, the employee must:

• First use up their statutory vacation days before taking the extra senior leave days;

• Be employed under a contract during the senior vacation. He can not benefit from the special holiday arrangements of public services or a deferred payment scheme as someone employed in education;

• Not be entitled to any salary or replacement income during the senior vacation.

Employees taking senior vacation are exempt from the waiting period and will receive a senior leave allowance from the ONEM (RVA). The allowance is 65% of the average daily salary to which the employee would have been entitled at the time of taking senior vacation for the first time. The salary to be taken into account is the maximum daily salary as defined in the unemployment regulations.

European vacation days

Employees who have not accrued sufficient vacation rights can apply for European vacation (also known as additional vacation). This allows the employee to take paid leave. Taking European or additional vacation is not mandatory.

Any employee who does not have four weeks of statutory vacation can be entitled to European vacation if they have worked for a minimum period in the vacation year. This minimum period of employment is called the “initiation period.”

There are a couple of conditions for being entitled to European vacation days:

• The employee must have started or resumed their career;

• Must have completed an initiation period of three months;

• The initiation period does not need to be full-time and can be accumulated with multiple employers;

• Exhaustion of statutory vacation rights.

The total of statutory vacation and European vacation should not exceed four weeks of vacation, considering the employee’s work regime.

During European vacation, the employee receives normal pay. For labourers, this is paid by the relevant holiday fund after the labourer submits an application.

The payment is considered an advance on the employee’s double vacation pay. In other words, the additional vacation pay will be deducted from the next double vacation pay payout. Thus, European vacation does not incur extra costs for the employer.

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Unpaid leave

When an employee has too few vacation days, they can agree with the employer to take unpaid leave. During unpaid leave, the employee does not receive a salary.

This is not the same as:

• Annual leave, where the employee has the right to not work while retaining their salary;

• Brief leave of absence, where the employee has the right to attend family events, for example, while retaining their salary.

Unpaid leave is an agreement between the employer and employee. They decide together when the unpaid leave starts and ends. It is possible to agree on one day of unpaid leave, but it is also possible to agree on a period of a year or more.

When both parties agree on unpaid leave, and the employee takes it, the employee is legally absent and cannot be sanctioned for not working, nor can the employer be sanctioned for not paying a salary.

Unpaid leave has an impact on:

• Fringe benefits: As an employer, you are no longer obliged to provide certain fringe benefits, such as meal vouchers during unpaid leave.

• End of year bonus: An end of year is granted based on the employee's work performance. Unpaid leave creates a gap in work performance, potentially reducing the bonus unless the sector or company equates unpaid leave with working, which is rare.

• Vacation days: The number of vacation days an employee is entitled to is affected by unpaid leave, especially if it lasts a month or longer. This results in two fewer vacation days accrued during the vacation year.

• Social security: Employees on unpaid leave do not accumulate rights. If an employee becomes ill during unpaid leave, they may not receive sick pay. Unemployment may also be affected, requiring the employee to work for an extended period before being eligible for unemployment benefits after losing their job.

Temporary unemployment - closure due to annual vacation

If the company has a collective closure for annual vacation, employees who do not have enough vacation days may receive an allowance from the ONEM (RVA) under certain conditions.

The employee must first use their statutory vacation days during a collective closure.

The fact that the employee has no or insufficient vacation days can in this case not be attributed to themselves. For instance, there is no temporary unemployment if the employee used all their vacation days before the collective closure, except if the days were used at a previous employer. There is temporary unemployment if the employee has accrued a limited number of vacation days based on the previous year's performance, and the duration of the collective closure exceeds this number.

The ONEM (RVA) allowance is 60% of the average salary. The salary to be taken into account is limited by the unemployment regulations.