Have you got the holiday solitaire worked out?

The word holiday is related to celebration. But for the completion of the summer holidays to be a feast, both knowledge and planning are required from the employers side. Here is an overview of the basic ground rules that apply in connection with determining, carrying out and possibly changing the employees' holiday.

1 Who is entitled to holiday?

According to the Holiday Act, you must be an employee to be entitled to holiday. The Holiday Act defines an employee as "anyone who work in the employment of others”.

Employees must be distinguished from independent contractors. The main difference is that independent contractors have entered into a fixed-term agreement which involves solving a specific assignment.

It is also necessary to distinguish employees from freelancers and employees of the company with ownership shares - as long as the ownership interests are dominant. The reason why these groups are not considered employees is that they are not subordinates and they are not dependent on the employer.

2 Length of holidays?

The Holiday Act sets minimum requirements for the length of the holiday and gives employees the right and obligation to take 25 working days' leave per calendar year. The term working day includes all days that are not Sundays or statutory holidays, i.e., also Saturdays. In practice, this corresponds to four weeks and one day. Employees who reach the age of 60 during the calendar year are also entitled to 6 working days’ extra holiday.

However, many employees are comprised by collective agreements which give the right to five weeks' holiday or have an individual employment contract which gives the right to more holiday than what follows from the Holidays Act. It is therefore important to have an overview of how much holiday time the individual employee can and must take each year.

The point in time for joining the business can be decisive for the number of holiday days. To be entitled to full holiday according to the Holidays Act, the employee must be employed no later than 1 September the previous year. In case of joining after this point in time, the employee is only entitled to six working days' holiday.

Employers have a duty to ensure that employees take holiday every year. The right to holiday time off applies regardless of whether the employee has earned the right to holiday pay. If the employee has not earned holiday pay, the employee can object to taking leave as a general rule. However, this does not apply if operations are completely or partially suspended during the holiday period. If the circumstances are such, the employer can order the employee to take the leave regardless of the holiday pay earned.

3 The main holiday

As regards the point in time for holiday, the employee can demand that 18 working days' leave be granted in the period between 1 June and 30 September. In practice, employees can claim up to 3 consecutive weeks' holiday in the main holiday period. However, continuous leave is dependent on the employee requesting it - if the parties so wish, the holiday can also be split up within the main holiday period.

From the general rule on continuous holidays in the main holiday period, an exception applies to employees who start work after 15 August. When starting after this date, the employee does not have the right to have the main holiday taken within the main holiday period. The employee can demand that the remaining holiday be given in total within the holiday year. Employees over the age of 60 decide whether they want to take the extra holiday as a whole or in individual days.

4 The planning of holidays

Good planning is important and ensures a smooth holiday process. The Holiday Act therefore states that the employer must discuss the holiday planning with the employees or their representatives well in advance of the holiday. In practice, it is common for employers to send out a list of holiday wishes and give a deadline for the employees to come up with holiday wishes. This is sufficient to comply with the obligation to consult.

When the employer has considered input from the employees, they must be notified of the point in time of the holiday. As a general rule, the employee must be notified no later than 2 months before the scheduled holiday begins, unless there are special reasons that can justify shorter notice. This could, for example, be unforeseen operating conditions.

5 Change of fixed holiday?

A practical question that may arise from time to time is whether the employer can change the fixed holiday period. The answer to this is yes. The Holiday Act, however, establishes a distinction for the possibility to change depending on whether the holiday decision has been communicated to the employee or not.

Holiday decisions the employer has not yet communicated to the employee can be changed freely. However, if the employee has received information about the point in time of holiday, as a starting point this will be obliging.

The employer may still have the right to adjust the holiday decision if this is necessary due to unforeseen events that will create significant operational problems, and a substitute cannot be obtained. However, the threshold for changing the fixed holiday must be high.

Nevertheless, if you are in such a situation, the employer must discuss the subject matter with the employee. If the employer unilaterally decides to reschedule the holiday, the employer is obliged to cover additional expenses resulting from the rescheduling.

The obligation to compensate includes additional expenses both for the employee as such and the employees’ immediate family. Practical examples of such expenses are often cancellation fees, rental expenses for cabins and costs for hotel rooms.

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Let the celebration begin!