It is up to the company to set the order of leave departures and decide whether to approve or refuse an employee’s request. This order can be defined in a company agreement, a sector-specific agreement, or directly by management if no agreement exists. In companies with more than 11 employees, the employer must consult the Social and Economic Committee (CSE) before finalising the leave schedule.
Once the leave period is set, the employer must consider the personal situations of employees to establish the priority order. Several criteria apply:
In summary, a single, recently hired employee will generally not have priority over more senior colleagues with family obligations.
The approval timeframe for paid leave requests is not strictly regulated by law. While leave is a right, there is no official deadline for employers to respond to requests. However, employers must respond within a reasonable time to allow employees to plan their holidays.
If the employer fails to respond, employees can assume approval and proceed with their leave as planned. In case of a dispute, the employee must prove they submitted the request in advance and received no response.
Employers can also change approved leave dates, provided they give at least one month’s notice, unless a collective agreement states otherwise.
Paid leave compensation replaces salary during the leave period. Failing to pay this compensation can result in a €7,500 fine per employee.
There are two methods to calculate paid leave compensation. The employee must receive the amount that is most favourable:
The employer calculates compensation based on either actual working hours each month or the average number of working days.
Employees can take up to 24 consecutive working days of leave, which equals 4 weeks.
There are exceptions for employees who live far away (e.g., overseas territories) or those with a disabled child or dependent adult.
Any leave period of 12 days or fewer must be continuous, unless the employee agrees to split it. For leave periods over 12 days, the leave can be split between different periods if the employer agrees.
If the company closes for holidays, employees must take leave during the closure, and their agreement is not required.
Paid leave is a right to rest, and the employer is responsible for ensuring employees actually take their leave. Unused leave at the end of the reference period (June 1 to May 31) is usually lost unless an exceptional carry-over is allowed by the employer.
The only situation where employees can demand payment for unused leave is when the employer prevented them from taking their leave within the required period. In this case, the employee can request compensation for unused leave.
The Labour Code specifies that paid leave is normally calculated in working days, meaning 6 days per week (Monday to Saturday). Some companies opt to count leave in working days, meaning 5 days per week (Monday to Friday).
Working days include all days the business operates, except for the weekly rest day (usually Sunday) and public holidays when the business is closed. This results in 6 working days per week.
For example, an employee taking 3 weeks of leave will have 18 days deducted (6 days x 3 weeks). Taking leave from Thursday to Monday morning would count as 3 days (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday).
Employees earn 2.5 working days of leave per month worked.
Business days are the actual working days in the week, typically 5 days (Monday to Friday). Employees are entitled to 25 business days of leave per year (5 days x 5 weeks).
In this system, Saturdays are excluded if the company is closed on weekends. Employees earn 2.08 business days of leave per month worked.
Both methods are legal, and the applicable one depends on the company policy or collective agreement. This distinction is important because it affects how quickly employees accrue leave and how much time they can take off at once.
