When are company holidays allowed?
For an employee to take a company vacation, there must be important operational reasons. This means that the circumstances must have a direct impact on the daily work of employees. Company holidays can only be granted if employees can no longer carry out their work for certain reasons.
There are several scenarios in which an entire company can go on vacation:
Order situation
A classic reason for company holidays is the order situation. In some industries there are predictable and recurring periods when orders are low. Therefore it is not convenient for the company to keep employees employed during this period. This period is usually between Christmas and New Year or during the regional summer holidays.
Renovation works
If there is major construction work going on in the company that would prevent employees from carrying out their daily work, company holidays can also be ordered. This may be for spatial reasons, but also for health reasons.
Employer himself
Company holidays are a big problem, especially in medical practices: when the employer goes away. In this case, during the employer’s absence, employees cannot carry out their daily work and are therefore forced to go on holiday. For example, medical practices cannot treat patients if the only doctor is on vacation.
Clients
The customer can also be the reason for a company holiday. For example, if there is only one customer and he goes on holiday, this also blocks the business. But the same thing can also happen with suppliers. If essential materials are not delivered because the supplier is on company leave, employee work is also severely affected and can lead to company leave.
How long can a company holiday last according to the law?
First of all, it is important to note that there is no legal obligation for a maximum duration of company holidays. As a rule, the employment contract does not specify anything specific. In theory, this person can also take all the employees’ vacation days. However: According to the Federal Court of Justice, approximately one fifth of the total vacation days are sufficient. Employees must continue to be able to freely choose additional holidays outside of company holidays and therefore also the period during which they take the holidays.
How far in advance should company holidays be announced?
It is mandatory to promptly inform people about company holidays. Failure to comply with the notice period can have serious consequences for the employer. In order for employees to plan their holidays, company holidays must be announced in good time. Therefore, a few weeks before is not enough.
But even in this case: for company holidays there is no legal notice period, but only a recommended period of at least 6 months.
Failure to comply with these six months can have consequences for the employer: if the employer announces company holidays at very short notice, he cannot, for example, revoke already approved holiday days. Even if employees have no vacation days available at the time of announcement of the company holiday, the employer is limited in his actions: he can still make his employees work for the period of the planned company holiday OR He goes on mandatory leave and continues to pay employees as usual.
How are company holidays evaluated?
Company holidays are not calculated separately from employee holidays. They are considered normal days off and are deducted from the annual workload. This means that company vacation days are paid in the same way as regular vacation days.
Get a better overview with digital tools
The topic of company holidays can be a small arithmetic task for you as an employer: Do my employees still have enough days off so that we can still take company holidays this year? When do I take company holidays and how can I ensure I don’t lose track? The answer to this question is simple: clockin.
With clockin you always have your company’s holiday planning under control. You can enter company holidays as your absence in the digital calendar. Your employees also have an overview of the data directly in their smartphone app. Clockin also tracks all vacation days taken and not paid by your employees. Instead of using pen and paper or an Excel spreadsheet, thanks to digital vacation requests and their processing, you can always see how many vacation days your employees still have open.