As a general rule, vacation days should be used within the natural year in which they are generated given that the right to use them expires on December 31 of each year. From then on, unless it was otherwise stipulated, the worker loses the right to use the pending days and the business is not obligated to compensate the worker financially for the unused days. The worker should know the dates at least two months prior to the beginning of their enjoyment/use, unless the Collective Bargaining Agreement establishes a longer period. Workers with part-time contracts have the right to the same vacation days as workers with full-time employment. If you haven’t taken all of your legal holiday entitlement during your holiday year, your employer may allow you to carry over the leftover days to the next holiday year.

You would need to argue that the cancellation is a breach of the implied duty of mutual trust and confidence with your employer. Your staff may choose to take holiday leave or save them, especially if they could carry them over to the following year. Where calculations result in part days, e.g. 16.8 days, it may be easier to round the entitlement up to the nearest full day or half day, if this is easier for you to administer (you cannot round it down). If the employee is unhappy with their final pay, or there are any discrepancies, try to resolve this on an informal basis first. Make sure that in your written section 1 statement that you provide sufficient information about holiday entitlement.

Denmark: Unused Vacation Days

The accrued amount can fully or partially be paid to the Danish authorities (Lønmodtagernes Feriemidler) or kept by the company. The index percentage will be published in June 2021 by the Danish authorities. When preparing this information letter, it is still uncertain if companies can pay the accrual as per August 31, 2020, without indexation. This depends on the Danish authorities’ ability to receive the accrual before it has been indexed in June 2021. Companies need to inform the Danish authorities no later than August 31, 2021, if they want to keep the accrual or pay it – the deadline for paying is the day after September 1, 2021.

There is no right to be paid for holiday leave that you haven’t taken during the year. Workers are only entitled to a payment in lieu of unused holiday on termination of their employment contract. Yes, employers are entitled to tell their staff to take leave on certain days, for example bank holidays or Christmas. https://grindsuccess.com/bookkeeping-for-startups/ The only time your employer is permitted to pay you in lieu of your holidays is when your employment is terminated. In that situation, you employer should pay you for any accrued but untaken annual leave in your last pay package. Here, you must pay your staff for any untaken statutory leave, or payment in lieu.

Check if the contract includes more holiday

It is important to also note that any transferred holiday is always taken before any accrued holiday. If a worker gets more than 28 days’ leave, their employer may allow them to carry over any additional untaken leave. Check the employment contract, company handbook or intranet to see what the rules say.

Some might lose track of time or feel like they didn’t get a chance due to workload. Others might be holding out for a big December payday, banking on getting paid in lieu of holiday. (2) explicitly state that the right to paid holiday is not incorporated as a term in employment contracts. Unless your contract of employment or handbook states otherwise, there is no legal requirement for an employer to cancel annual leave that has been approved. It would be difficult to argue that your employer is being unreasonable in this instance, particularly as temporary cover may have been arranged to deal with your previously approved holiday.

If you want to take a holiday

Some employers run an ‘accrual’ system, where holiday entitlement is built up over the first year of employment. This means that for every month you work, you become entitled to one twelfth of your annual entitlement. Employers must provide sick employees with sick pay for the first 14 days of their absence, at 80% of their normal pay – with a deduction of 20% of the employee’s weekly pay. Employees must provide a doctor’s note for absences of longer than 7 days (although an employer may demand a doctor’s note at any point if they feel that is justified). Example
Someone works a 5-day week and is entitled to 28 days’ annual leave a year. After their third month in the job, they’d be entitled to 7 days’ leave (a quarter of their total leave, or 28 ÷ 12 × 3).

All employees need to take a break now and then and periods of long-term sickness absence aren’t exactly a picnic. Letting an employee who missed lots of work due to sickness take further time off to relax and recover will be better for your business’s long-term productivity. Let’s say your leave year runs from January 1st – December 31st, and a new employee starts in April.