What happens to vacation days and plus time at the end of the year?
As the year draws to a close, it's time to take a look at how you're doing with vacation and plus time. Here is an overview of what you should do with earned hours and vacation days.
Plus time: How to ensure that the hours do not disappear
Most of us have flexitime arrangements that allow us to incorporate plus time that will later be taken in lieu. Some employers practice a limit on how many plus hours you can carry over to the next year, and delete the excess.
Do not accept the deletion of plus time
The prerequisite for a flexitime scheme is that you as an employee have a real opportunity to take time off in lieu of the hours you have worked extra. Free work is not an option.
The employer is responsible for arranging time off in lieu, and you have a shared responsibility for planning. If your workload makes it impossible to take all time off in lieu of flexitime, you must have a discussion with your employer about what you can do. The main rule is time off in lieu, an emergency solution can be payment, possibly with an overtime supplement.
Three tips on what you should do with the plus time:
- Request overtime approval
If the plus time account fills up because there is more work than you can do during normal working hours, you should ask for approval to enter this as overtime. - Request time off in writing
Send a written request to the employer for time off in lieu well in advance of the turn of the year and ask for a written response. - Claim payment
If time off in lieu is not possible, you can claim the hours to be paid.
The deletion of plus time is not directly regulated by law, but all practice must be in accordance with the Working Environment Act's rules on working hours.
Vacation days: This happens to the days you have not used
As a general rule, statutory holiday must be taken during the year. It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that you can take your holiday, but it still happens that holiday days are left behind. What can you do if this occurs?
What to do with unused vacation days
- Transfer by appointment
You can enter into a written agreement with your employer to carry over up to two weeks of the statutory holiday to the following year. - Automatic transfer
If it turns out at the end of the year that you have more holiday days left than you have agreed to transfer, these will not be deleted. Any statutory holiday that has not been taken is automatically carried over to the next year, regardless of the reason. This also applies if you have been ill or on parental leave.
Remember
- The holiday days do not disappear, and you cannot receive holiday pay for holiday that has not been taken – unless you quit your job.
- Will it be difficult to take all the holiday? Arrange a transfer with your employer before the end of the year.
- Check that your holiday balance is correct after the New Year if you have transferred days.