It may be due to the weather that some office workers' thoughts don't really want to stay on task at the moment. They would much rather travel to a place where it is not a computer, a telephone or the calendar that determines the day, but rather the weather, the tides or the needs of their own body and mind. Summertime is traditionally also vacation time, and with the school holidays approaching, the time that parents can spend with their children is also approaching.
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Planning
To ensure that everything goes smoothly, we recommend planning well in advance. Because the first step towards free summer days is always the step towards the executive level - after all, the superior has to approve the vacation. In some companies, a holiday conference at the beginning of the year ensures that the needs of colleagues do not clash. Especially when more than half of the workforce has children, school holidays are traditionally the peak time for vacation requests. In such a conference, compromises can then be made directly - according to the motto: “You Pentecost, I Easter”.
To the island with your briefcase?
It has become commonplace for more and more employees to pack a few folders in their bag with their swimming trunks. A Desk can also be found in the hotel room. But it's not intended that way, as a look at the Federal Holiday Act (BUrlG for short) reveals. In essence, it defines vacation as doing nothing, all day long. “Vacation should be used for relaxation and to maintain one’s own working capacity,” says lawyer Simone Weber. The lawyer runs a law firm at Sendlinger Tor in Munich - labor law is one of her areas of expertise.
The fact that the workforce is maintained is an asset worth protecting for the legislature. That is why all employees, including trainees or part-time employees, are legally entitled to paid vacation. Of course, employees cannot decide for themselves when they go on vacation, but must submit an application to the employer and have it approved. "Under no circumstances may an employee take a leave of absence themselves. If an employee authorizes a leave of absence on their own initiative, they are violating their employment contractual obligations and must expect consequences under labor law, which can include termination without notice," explains Simone Weber.
Rules also apply to the employer. This means that he cannot approve or deny vacation in the manner of a landlord, but must also adhere to the applicable law. “Section 7 paragraph 1 of the Federal Holiday Act states that employers must take the employee’s holiday wishes into account.” Of course, he can also refuse a vacation request under certain conditions: “If urgent operational issues, such as a large workload due to a new order, a high level of sickness in the department, conflict with this, or vacation requests from other employees conflict with this,” says the expert. "In the case of conflicting vacation requests, the employer must weigh up the social interests of both employees, for example older age, length of service, school-age children, need for relaxation, working spouse. The employee who is more worthy of social protection then has priority in his vacation request based on the reason." Basically, bosses must also decide quickly on their employees' vacation requests and take into account that vacation should be granted consecutively.
How much vacation are employees entitled to?
The United Services Union “Ver.di” provides an overview on its homepage of who is entitled to how much vacation. “The statutory minimum vacation duration is 24 working days per calendar year for adults nationwide, regardless of age,” it says. “This corresponds to four weeks, since all calendar days that are not Sundays or public holidays are considered working days.” Ver.di points out that the average vacation duration according to the collective agreement is already six weeks. Even part-time employees are entitled to vacation - in proportion to their working hours. “For each full month of the employment relationship, the employee is entitled to one twelfth of the annual vacation,” it says on the union’s homepage.
Simone Weber can explain it in more detail - and she also has an example ready. "The statutory minimum vacation is 24 working days. Working days are all days that are not Sundays or public holidays." So the Federal Holiday Act assumes that the 24 working days mean that the employee works from Monday to Saturday, i.e. has a six-day week. If the employee only has a five-day week, Monday to Friday, the minimum vacation of 24 days must be reduced accordingly.” Simone Weber calculates: “24 working days divided by 6 working days = 20 working days of vacation.” This calculation, applied analogously, results in the following table:
- Six-day week: 24 working days vacation
- Five-day week: 20 working days vacation
- Four-day week: 16 working days vacation
- Three-day week: 12 working days vacation
- Two-day week: 8 working days vacation
- One working day per week: 4 working days vacation per year
There is an interesting detail to keep in mind: It makes no difference whether an employee works four or eight or ten hours a day.” When it comes to vacation, it depends on the working days per week and not the working hours per day,” explains lawyer Simone Weber. “Anyone who works five days a week, even if it is only five hours a day, is also entitled to 20 working days of vacation, as is an employee who works eight hours a day Office chair works.
In the case of flexible working hours, i.e. if the employee works five days one week, only two days the next week, then not at all one week and only three days the following week, the working hours must be extended over a longer period; if necessary even for the entire annual working time. According to Simone Weber, the vacation duration is then calculated as follows: "If your regular working hours are spread over a period of time that does not correspond to a calendar week, the legal or collectively agreed vacation duration is assumed to be full-time. With a six-day week, there are legally 24 working days of vacation. These 24 working days are divided by the annual working days of 312 days (52 weeks x 6 working days). This results in a factor of 0.0769. You then have to calculate this factor with your actual If, for example, you have worked 80 days (80 x 0.0769), you have a vacation entitlement of 6.15 days per year.”
Young people and severely disabled people
By the way: Special rules apply to young people and severely disabled people. Anyone who is under 16 at the beginning of a calendar year will be credited with at least 30 days of vacation. At 17 there are 27 vacation days, at 18 then 25. According to the law, employees with a severe disability are entitled to one paid vacation day per year per working day per week. With a 5-day week, this results in five days more vacation per year, with a six-day week, six days of vacation.
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