When you plan holidays for your employees
Summer is just around the corner, and that means many employees will take their three-week main holiday over the next few months. If you are the one handling the company's holiday planning, this comes with a number of tasks and quite a lot of planning. These tasks include, among other things, spreading holiday between employees without it affecting the company's operations. At the same time, you must make sure the rules on holiday and notice are followed. In the section below, we take you through the tasks and deadlines you must meet to get the holiday planning done.
The right to take holiday
A number of things can affect your employees' holiday rights. These include whether the employees are covered by a collective agreement or have a local agreement that departs from the Holiday Act. You are always obliged to comply with these agreements. It is also important to always remember that your employees are entitled to take 5 weeks' holiday a year.
Holiday-taking period
The holiday-taking period runs from 1 September to 31 December of the following year.
Your employees are not obliged to take holiday if they have not earned holiday pay or paid holiday. If, on the other hand, the employee has earned holiday, you can require them to take it.
If your company closes for holidays for a period, you are also fully entitled to require your employees to take holiday during that period – this applies whether or not your employees have earned enough holiday. Remember that the closure must be announced in advance, and that you may be obliged to pay holiday pay in advance.
Remember the notice rules
It is your responsibility that the company follows the rules on giving notice of holiday. The Holiday Act decides when you as an employer must notify your employees. The main rule is that you must always give your employees notice in good time. You must give notice of the main holiday no later than three months before it starts. Your employees are always entitled to three consecutive weeks of main holiday, but you can always agree that the employees take the three weeks outside the main holiday instead, or shorten the period by a week or two.
Other holiday
Holiday outside the main holiday is called “other holiday”, and the employer must give one month's notice of it. For other holiday, the employee is entitled to take the holiday days together in periods of at least 5 days, but if the employee wants to take the days one at a time, you can agree on that.
The best option is of course for you and your employees to agree on when holiday is taken, but if you can't agree, it is you as the employer who decides when the holiday is taken. You just need to remember to give notice according to the rules.
The company's operations come first, but you still have a duty to try to meet your employees' holiday wishes. You must also take particular account of employees with school-age children being able to take their summer holiday together with the children.
If the company closes for holidays
If your company has periods when it closes for holidays, it is important that you follow the rules on giving notice of holiday. If they are not followed, your employees are entitled to pay while you are closed – without it costing them any holiday days.
If the company closes for holidays for a period, you are fully entitled to require your employees to take holiday during that period. This applies whether or not the employee has earned enough holiday.
Changing holiday
Once your employees have started their holiday, you as the employer cannot interrupt it. Nor can you require your employees to be available during their holiday – not even if they have a work phone, for example.
In special situations caused by force majeure, however, you can change planned holiday. This requires a legal assessment. If your employees have had expenses, for example for trips they have bought, you as the employer must cover these losses afterwards.
Sickness and holiday
Remember that if employees are sick when their holiday starts, they are not obliged to start their holiday. If employees fall sick during their holiday, be aware that they may be entitled to replacement holiday. This requires, however, that they have been prevented from taking holiday. Read more about being prevented from taking holiday.
What you can do in Zenegy
In Zenegy's employee app, your employees can keep track of their holiday themselves at all times. Through their personal holiday guide, employees can see how much holiday they have earned and in which period they must take it. The app also gives an overview of the holiday they have planned, what they have used and what has been approved.
