Relaxing vacation

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This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

Relaxing is the most common form of statutory holidays . Its purpose is to enable the employee to relax and have more free time for a certain period of time.

National economy average
vacation days in 2003
Sweden 33
Netherlands 31.5
Denmark 30th
Germany 29.1
Italy 28
Luxembourg 28
Austria 25th
Finland 25th
France 25th
Norway 25th
Greece 23
Brazil 22 (30 calendar days)
Ireland 20th
Switzerland 20 (legal minimum,
in CLA mostly 25 days or more)
Japan 18th
United States 12

historical development

The first legal regulations in Europe go back to the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and provided for a vacation of three to six working days per year. The first collectively agreed vacation regulations from Germany date back to 1903. At that time, the Central Association of German Brewery Workers , the predecessor organization of the food- gourmet restaurant union , managed to negotiate collective agreements with the Stuttgart ring breweries and the Greiz brewery . In it, employees received three days of paid vacation after at least one year of service.

In the period of the Weimar Republic , the average number increased vacation days for workers and employees at eight to twelve days. Almost all workers were entitled to paid annual leave. In the 1930s, in connection with the founding of the KdF organization , the National Socialists extended the vacation entitlement to two to three weeks per year, but without regulating this by law.

With the Federal Holiday Act (BUrlG) of January 8, 1963, a minimum entitlement of 24 working days of paid vacation was set in Germany. It is available to all workers, salaried employees and persons similar to employees (those who are to be regarded as employees due to their economic dependence on a client). In addition, there are numerous individual regulations between the parties to the collective bargaining agreement in the individual sectors and in some cases also in the federal states, which often provide for more vacation days. These collectively agreed vacation regulations take precedence over the Federal Vacation Act.

From an international perspective, the annual vacation entitlement is between four and six weeks, depending on the state. As a rule, at least half of this must be taken undivided, and in some countries the entire vacation. The European Union stipulates a minimum vacation of four weeks in Article 7 of the Working Time Directive . On other continents it is usually much lower, in some countries, such as the USA , there is no legal right at all.

country EU member statutory vacation entitlement public holidays¹ total days off
Argentina - 20th 15th 35
Bolivia - 25th 12 37
Brazil - 22nd 11 33
Chile - 15th 14th 29
Denmark × 25th 09 34
Germany × 20² 10 30th
Ecuador - 15th 09 24
Finland × 25th 10 35
France × 25th 11 36
India - 12 18th 30th
Indonesia - 12 14th 26th
Ireland × 20th 09 29
Italy × 20th 11 31
Japan - 10-20³ 15th 25-35
Colombia - 15th 18th 33
Croatia × 20th 11 31
Latvia × 20th 10 30th
Lebanon - 15th 16 31
Lithuania × 20th 12 32
Luxembourg × 25th 10 35
Malaysia - 16 14th 30th
Malta × 24 14th 38
Mexico - 16 07th 23
Netherlands × 20th 08th 28
Austria × 25th 13 38
Peru - 22nd 12 34
Philippines - 05 14th 19th
Poland × 20th 11 31
Portugal × 22nd 13 35
Romania × 20th 09 29
Sweden × 25th 11 36
Singapore - 14th 11 25th
Slovakia × 20th 15th 35
Slovenia × 20th 12 32
Spain × 22nd 14th 36
South Africa - 15th 12 27
South Korea - 19th 15th 34
Republic of China (Taiwan) - 15th 13 28
Czech Republic × 20th 12 32
Turkey - 17th 14.5 31.5
Hungary × 23 08th 31
Venezuela - 24 14th 38
United Kingdom × 28 00 28
United States - 00 10 10
Vietnam - 14th 09 23
Republic of Cyprus × 20th 15th 35
¹ not including regional holidays.
² Only employees with a 6-day working week are entitled to 24 days of vacation.
³ depending on the duration of the employment relationship, maximum rate from 6.5 years of employment

Length of vacation

The extent of an employee's vacation entitlement is primarily based on the employment contract , although collective agreements and, above all, labor legislation stipulate minimum entitlements that must not be undercut by contract. Further regulations are relatively rare in Austria and Switzerland (see collective agreement ).

Regulations in Germany

According to Section 3 of the Federal Holiday Act, the duration of vacation leave in Germany is 24 working days. Since Saturday also counts as a working day , but usually only works five days a week, this generally results in 20 working days. For young employees, the statutory minimum leave according to Section 19 of the Youth Labor Protection Act is 25 to 30 working days, depending on age. According to Section 208, Book 9 of the Social Code (SGB IX), severely disabled people receive additional five working days of leave.

In fact, many workers today have a vacation entitlement of around 30 days per year - that is, around six weeks  - which is determined by collective agreement or individual employment contract. If you add the public holidays, Germany is one of the countries with the most days off worldwide (see table above).

In countries like India and Japan, public holidays are relatively short, but there are also many public holidays.

Calculation of vacation

The Federal Holiday Act stipulates a statutory minimum holiday of 24 working days and also assumes a 6-day working week, as was common when the law was passed in 1963. Those who work fewer days a week receive a pro rata entitlement, with today's 5-day week that is 20 days of vacation, so that there is always a vacation entitlement of four weeks. For the additional leave for severely disabled people, the legislature considered it necessary to expressly clarify this in Section 208 of SGB IX.

Public service vacation

Until December 31, 2012, employees in the public service of the federal government and the municipalities were entitled to vacation in the following amount in accordance with Section 26 of the collective agreement for the public service (TVöD): 26 working days up to the age of 30 and 26 working days until the age of 40 29 working days and then 30 working days. In the civil service of the federal states, the same applied to the civil service of the federal states according to the collective agreement .

The Federal Labor Court (BAG) has classified this graduation as inadmissible age discrimination .

The collective bargaining parties have therefore introduced a new age scale in the collective bargaining agreement for the public service of the federal government and municipalities with effect from March 1, 2012, according to which the vacation entitlement up to the age of 55 was 29 working days and then 30 working days. With the collective bargaining agreement of April 2014, the vacation entitlement has been standardized for all employees in the area and has generally been 30 working days for employees and 28 working days for trainees since the beginning of the 2014 calendar year.

In the area of ​​the collective agreement for the public service of the federal states, all employees to whom it applies have been entitled to vacation of 30 days and for trainees of 27 days since January 1, 2013.

For civil servants , Section 5 of the Federal Recreational Leave Ordinance or the corresponding parallel provisions of the federal states are relevant. According to this, the civil servant is entitled to 30 days of vacation regardless of age and grade.

Additional leave for the severely disabled

Severely disabled people with an established degree of disability of at least 50 receive statutory additional leave of 5 working days per year ( Section 208 SGB ​​IX ) based on a 5-day working week. If the severely disabled person works more or less than 5 days per week, the entitlement increases or decreases accordingly, so that the result is always an additional week of vacation.

If the employee is not severely disabled for the entire year, he is entitled to one twelfth of the additional vacation for each full month of the severely disabled status in the employment relationship. Fractions of vacation days that add up to at least half a day are rounded up to full vacation days. If the severe disability is determined retrospectively, the right to additional leave also applies for the retrospectively determined period, but usually only for the current holiday year (Section 208 (3) SGB IX).

Employees who are treated on an equal footing with severely disabled people are not entitled to additional leave.

Graduation of the vacation duration according to age

In the past, older employees often received more vacation than their younger colleagues due to relevant collective bargaining or employment contract regulations. A different length of vacation according to age group is, however, only permissible according to § 10 AGG if it is objective and appropriate and justified by a legitimate aim - such as the protection of health or an increased need for recreation among older employees. The means to achieve this end must be adequate and necessary.

In any case, this is not the case if employees are entitled to 30 working days of vacation in each calendar year after the age of 40, while the vacation entitlement is only 26 working days up to the age of 30 and only 29 working days until the age of 40 amounts. A corresponding regulation in the TVöD was therefore changed with effect from March 1, 2012. The age grading has been abolished in the public service since 2013 (federal states) and 2014 (federal government, local authorities).

The State Labor Court (LAG) Düsseldorf upheld the action of a 24-year-old employee who, according to the general collective bargaining agreement of the retail trade in North Rhine-Westphalia, is entitled to 34 vacation days per year, while employees over 30 have 36 days vacation. The LAG did not consider the age-related regulation to be justified under Section 10 AGG. There is no legitimate aim for this unequal treatment.

On the other hand, the BAG ruled on October 21, 2014 that an additional holiday entitlement of two days from the age of 58 does not constitute age discrimination. The BAG granted a shoe manufacturer leeway to protect older employees. The company did not exceed this with the assumption that the older employees would need longer recovery times because of the heavy work in production. The shoe manufacturer grants employees up to the age of 58 34 days, and from the age of 58 36 days.

Employees who are inadmissibly discriminated against on vacation because of their age can claim an upwardly adjusted vacation duration each year, i.e. they can request as many vacation days as the age group with the most vacation days.

Redeeming and forfeiting entitlement

According to Section 7 of the Federal Holiday Act, the employee's holiday wishes must be taken into account when determining the time of the holiday . This does not apply if this is opposed to urgent operational issues (e.g. company holidays, high season). Under certain circumstances, the vacation requests of other employees for social reasons may also have priority. The leave is to be granted contiguously, unless urgent operational issues or reasons relating to the employee make it necessary to split.

When determining the leave of civil servants, the "proper handling of official business" must be guaranteed and deputy costs avoided ( Section 2 Federal Recreational Leave Regulation or parallel provisions of the federal states).

If no agreement is reached between the agency manager and the employees involved, the drawing up of the vacation schedule and the determination of the time of the vacation leave for individual employees in the public service according to Section 75 (3) No. 3 BPersVG or the corresponding regulations in the employee representation laws are subject to Countries of codetermination by the staff council . The same applies in the private sector , where the works council is granted a right of co-determination in accordance with Section 87 (1) No. 5 BetrVG.

Parents usually take their vacation during the school holidays in order to spend their free time with their children or to be able to travel away with them or to ensure that they are looked after. This must be taken into account when determining the vacation. In the case of teachers and some other professional fields, the vacation must generally be taken during the school holidays.

If vacation leave is not taken in the calendar year, it expires at the end of the year, unless it is carried over to the following year by a certain deadline (usually: March 31; also for public sector employees) due to urgent operational reasons or reasons related to the employee becomes. As a rule, however - except in the case of illness - this presupposes a timely request for leave that has not been approved by the employer. Exceptionally, however, entitlement to the statutory minimum leave does not expire if the employee falls ill by the end of the transfer period and is therefore unable to work . In this case, the vacation expires at the latest 15 months after the end of the vacation year.

Vacation compensation

The employee is only entitled to vacation compensation, i.e. payment for vacation days not taken, if he cannot take his vacation due to the termination of the employment relationship . If the employee dies, his entitlement to compensation is inheritable .

Also, officials can the Court of Federal Administrative Court when leaving the (active) service and transition to retirement due to illness their holiday can not take more, a union legally required entitlement to reimbursement of (unexpired) minimum leave is entitled (four weeks) .

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on November 6, 2018 in a ruling on leave of an employee that this does not automatically expire if the employee does not apply for any remaining leave. "These claims can only be lost if the employee has actually been put in a position by the employer, for example through adequate information, to take the vacation days in question in good time." This also applies to the payment of unused vacation after the end of employment. The vacation entitlement can therefore also be inherited, in which the heirs (legal successors of the employee) can demand financial compensation for vacation not taken. The judgment refers to two preliminary ruling requests from the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) Berlin-Brandenburg and the Federal Labor Court (BAG), judgment of 6 November 2018, Az. C-619/16 and C-684/16 and Az. C-569/16 and C-570/16.

Remuneration during the vacation

During vacation, employees are entitled to continued payment of their remuneration ( vacation pay ) according to Section 11 of the Federal Vacation Act . Some employers pay additional vacation pay on the basis of collective agreements or individual contracts .

In the case of civil servants, the continued payment of salary results from Section 89 (1) of the Federal Civil Service Act or the parallel provisions of the federal states. In the past, vacation pay was granted on a statutory basis, for example through the Vacation Pay Act for federal civil servants . In the meantime, most civil service legislators have canceled the vacation pay.

Vacation after illness

According to Section 7, Paragraph 1, Clause 2 of the Federal Holiday Act, leave is to be granted after a preventive medical care or rehabilitation measure if the employee so requests.

The vacation entitlement also arises during the time in which the employee cannot work due to illness due to the existence of the employment relationship, so that the full vacation can be claimed even if the employee has not worked a single day during the entire calendar year. This follows from the fact that the Federal Holiday Act (BUrlG) is only based on the existence of the employment relationship .

If the employee cannot take the vacation due to illness-related incapacity to work , his entitlements to the granting or compensation of the statutory partial or full vacation (not an additional vacation) do not expire on March 31 of the following year despite Section 7 (3) and (4) BUrlG , but only 15 months after the end of the vacation year. If the workers in existing employment before the end of this period back to health, he must grant leave - if necessary, having regard to limitation periods that the ability to work begin to run at the time of recovery - require otherwise, the holidays can already fallen earlier. If the employee leaves the employment relationship before the end of the 15 months, he must also observe any existing exclusion periods for the assertion of his vacation compensation claim.

Vacation planning

Taking a trip is one of the classic forms of vacation design .

Any other work activity during the vacation can be contrary to duty if it endangers the recreational purpose of the vacation.

See also

Web links

Wiktionary: Vacation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European Court of Justice ( ECJ ), judgment of January 20, 2009 - C-350/06 - paragraph 26
  2. ↑ Bettina Seipp: Days off: A lot of vacation is no longer a German privilege. In: The world. March 3, 2015, accessed December 2, 2015 .
  3. ↑ About the USA - Holidays. In: usa.usembassy.de. Retrieved December 2, 2015 .
  4. ^ Employee statutory and public holiday entitlements - global comparisons . ( Memento from January 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Mercer 2009.
  5. ↑ tdl-online.de
  6. ^ Federal Labor Court, judgment of March 20, 2012, 9 AZR 529/10, paragraphs 19 ff
  7. ↑ Federal Labor Court, judgment of March 20, 2012, 9 AZR 529/10
  8. ↑ Judgment of January 18, 2011 - 8 Sa 1274/10
  9. ↑ Federal Labor Court, judgment of October 21, 2014: Az. 9 AZR 956/12 In: bundesarbeitsgericht.de , accessed on June 8, 2018.
  10. ^ Federal Labor Court, judgment of March 20, 2012.
  11. ↑ BAG, judgment of March 24, 2009, 9 AZR 983/07, NJW 2009, 2238 = NZA 2009, 538; http://lexetius.com/2009,703 and previously European Court of Justice, judgment of January 20, 2009, C-350/06, C-520/06, NJW 2009, 495 = NZA 2009, 135; http://lexetius.com/2009,63
  12. ^ Federal Labor Court, judgment of August 7, 2012, 9 AZR 353/10, press release 56/12
  13. ↑ ECJ, judgment of June 12, 2014, C ‑ 118/13 (Bollacke; ECLI : EU: C: 2014: 1517)
  14. ↑ closer Kügler, BVerwG, January 31, 2013 - 2 C 10.12: Holiday compensation entitlement for sick civil servants upon transition into retirement
  15. ^ Judgment of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) Judgment of November 6, 2018. In: European Court of Justice . November 6, 2018, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  16. ↑ ECJ approves trainee lawyer: Remuneration of remaining leave is possible even without an application for leave. In: Legal Tribune Online . November 6, 2018, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Federal Labor Court , judgment of January 28, 1982, 6 AZR 571/79, NJW 1982, 1548.
  18. ^ Federal Labor Court, judgment of August 7, 2012, 9 AZR 353/10, in the long-term dormant employment relationship, press release 56/12
  19. ^ Federal Labor Court, judgment of June 19, 2012, 9 AZR 652/10