Paid leave

The minimum amount of paid annual leave is set by law and is thus mandatory. You are entitled to 20 days of paid leave per year if you work a five-day week, and 24 days of leave if you work six days a week. Your leave entitlement is defined in your employment contract. In labour agreements, it is generally considerably higher than the statutory minimum annual leave.

You do not acquire your full leave entitlement until you have been employed for 6 months. You retain your full entitlement even if your employment ends during the second half of the year, provided you have worked for at least 6 months.

You must apply to your employer for leave (preferably in writing). You employer may approve or deny your request. As a rule, annual leave must be taken during the year in which it is earned. Under certain circumstances, however, a certain amount of leave can be carried over into the first 3 months of the follow year.

Unclaimed leave does not automatically expire. In future, employers must ask their employees to take unclaimed leave and draw attention to the fact that it will otherwise expire. Companies must inform their employees »clearly and in advance« of unclaimed leave.

The amount of leave pay to which you are entitled is calculated on the basis of your average earnings for the last 13 weeks preceding the beginning of your leave period. Leave pay is to be paid out prior to the beginning of your leave period.

If your employment ends and you haven’t taken any annual leave, your employer is required to pay you for the remaining leave entitlement. Certain deadlines apply in this case as well, which is why you need to file your claim with your employer as soon as possible.

The above provisions do not apply to employees in the construction industry. In the construction industry, there is a collectively agreed system and vacation entitlements are recorded by the Social Fund of the Construction Industry (SOKA-BAU) in the »vacation fund procedure«. You can find more information at