Statutory holidays: what you need to know

How many statutory holiday days does your employee get?

Your employee is entitled to at least 4 times the number of working days that they work per week. A working day is typically 8 hours. So, with a 4-day working week, your employee is entitled to 16 statutory holiday days per year.

You can also calculate it based on hours worked. Then it is 4 times the number of hours your employee works per week. Does your employee work 40 hours? Then it is 4 x 40 = 160 holiday hours per year.

Has your employee not yet worked for you for a full year? For example, they started on 1 July. Then you calculate the holiday days based on the hours or weeks they will work until the end of the year.

Extra days off for older employees in collective labour agreements

In some collective labour agreements (CAO) and for some professions, there are special agreements for employees who are aged 50 or over. Your employee is then entitled to extra days off per month, for example. Extra days off for older employees are not set out in the law.

What are extra-statutory holiday days?

You can give your employee extra holiday days on top of the number to which they are entitled. These are ‘extra-statutory’ holiday days. The Dutch term for this is bovenwettelijke vakantiedagen. The CAO may contain agreements about these extra holiday hours. You can also make agreements about extra holiday hours in the employment contract.

Are employees with zero-hour contracts entitled to holiday leave?

Employees with a zero-hour contract are also entitled to paid holiday hours. This is 4 times the number of hours they work per week per year.

With a zero-hour contract, your employee does not work a fixed number of hours per week. A portion per hour worked is often agreed upon for calculating the amount of holiday hours due. How you calculate the holiday hours is specified in the CAO or set out in the employment contract.

Can employees decide when to take leave?

Your employee is free to decide when to take holiday leave, unless this causes problems for your company. For example, if your employee requests days off during a busy period. In that case, you can object by email or post within 2 weeks of the request. Your employee may then take the holiday days at another time. Your employee must be able to take the statutory number of holiday days each year.

Fixed holiday period [belangrijkblok]

There may also be a fixed holiday period for employees. This is called a collective holiday. For example, in construction (often referred to in Dutch as bouwvak) or in education (school holidays). A fixed holiday period is specified in the employment contract or the CAO.

What happens to unused holiday days?

Does your employee not use up all their holiday days in a year? They may carry over the statutory holiday days to the following year. They must use them before 1 July of that year. Holiday days that your employee builds up in 2026, for example, will expire on 1 July 2027. After that, they can no longer be used, unless different rules are stated in the CAO or employment contract.

Your employee may save up their extra-statutory holiday days. These hours may be carried over for a maximum of 5 years.

Can you pay out days off?

You may not pay off statutory holiday entitlement. Except if your employee stops working for you before the days have been used. In that case, you pay out the remaining statutory holiday entitlement.

You may pay out the extra-statutory holiday days if you agree this with your employee. You may not make this compulsory.

Building up holiday days during leave

Your employee does not usually build up holiday entitlement during unpaid leave. Exceptions are long-term care leave and additional parental leave (in Dutch). In these cases, your employee does build up holiday entitlement. You can ask your employee to exchange extra holiday entitlement for sick days or special leave .This is only possible with your employee's consent.

Does your employee build up holiday entitlement during maternity leave?

During maternity leave and childbirth leave, your employee will continue to build up holiday entitlement as normal. You may not ask your employee to take holiday days for maternity or childbirth leave.

What to do with holiday days during illness?

Is your employee ill or partially ill? Then the buildup of holiday hours will continue as normal. Other agreements may have been made regarding building up extra-statutory holiday hours during illness. These are set out in the employment contract or CAO.

Sick during holiday leave

If your employee reports sick during their holiday, they should not lose the holiday days on which they are sick. These days should be registered as sick days. Your employee may then take the holiday days at another time. Your employee must officially report to you that they are sick.