Rights as an employee What you should know about your vacation entitlement

Right to rest: they should know about holidays
Stressed, tired, annoyed? - Time for a relaxing break. In Germany, employees are entitled to 20 days' leave per year for a five-day week. Every employee has this legal claim. Nevertheless, vacation planning often leads to conflicts. Employees should therefore know important things about vacations.

Vacation planning at the beginning of the year
Several years ago, a scientific study was presented, which came to the conclusion: Holiday makes happy and healthy. One should therefore think that it can not be enough of it. Of course, there is no employee who can take unlimited time off. Many employees currently have to think about when they want to take a break. In the first few months of the new year, vacation planning is usually the main issue: then it is time to submit the annual leave. Colleagues already express wishes and the rest of the vacation must go. The rights workers have with regard to holidays are regulated in the Federal Holiday Law.

The planning of holidays leads to conflicts in many companies and not infrequently employees are also during the vacation time with professional things beasst. (Image: nadezhda1906 / fotolia.com)

Legal minimum set
"The specific holiday entitlement is based on the weekly working hours," said lawyer Arne Maier from Esslingen in a message from the news agency dpa. Employees who work six days a week are legally entitled to 24 working days' leave per year. For a 5-day week it is 20 working days holiday. In addition, there are holidays that the employer voluntarily grants or that have been additionally agreed by the collective bargaining parties. In the regulations of the federal leave law only the legal minimum is held. According to Tjark Menssen, head of the legal department at DGB Rechtsschutz GmbH in Berlin, most employment and collective bargaining agreements go beyond the statutory leave entitlement.

Socially responsible employees
However, the employee is not free to take holidays when he wishes. "The employer must take into account the employee's holiday wishes," explained the lawyer at the AGA Business Association in Hamburg, Janine Fazelly. "If urgent business reasons speak against it, he can refuse a vacation request." Such concerns can be for example personnel bottlenecks or inventory work for the annual accounts. In addition, the employer may refuse the holiday, if it comes to collisions with wishes of other employees, the social priority to treat - for example, because they have to care for school-age children during the holiday season. The summer holidays are a classic conflict: "Here is usually the rule: who has more children, is preferred," said lawyer Maier. However, that should not happen over the years. The employer must then also take into account the concerns of other employees.

Special regulation during company holidays
It is not permitted for an employer to grant leave to its employees only when there is not much work to be done on the farm. "A one-sided arrangement of leave, because of mere lack of work is not permissible," said Menssen. Here, too, there is one exception: "During company holidays, the company sets a period during which the employees go on vacation," says Maier. However, such a regulation must be announced with appropriate advance. If there is a works council, he must agree.

Remaining vacation can expire
As the dpa message goes on to say, the legislature does not actually provide for any remaining leave: "The federal leave law stipulates that the leave must be taken in the same calendar year," explained Fazelly. Only in exceptional cases or for personal reasons may any remaining leave be taken in the first quarter of the following year. "Many employment contracts, however, provide a goodwill until the end of March." If the vacation is not taken until then, the days off. "A payment of unused holiday days is only allowed if the employee leaves the company."

Report to the employer in case of illness
In the event of illness on holiday, the employee must become active and report sick immediately to the employer. Then the employee can catch up on his vacation days at a later date. That one gets sick during the holidays, is unfortunately not so rare. Many are tired and tired despite their holidays. This has to do with the fact that some people can not really switch off in the most beautiful time of the year. Health experts often recommend physical activities such as swimming or hiking to promote relaxation. If you can regenerate well, experts have some tricks to save the holiday recovery in everyday life. So you should better slowly get back into the workday and off in your free time with relaxation exercises to reduce stress. (Ad)