How lay-offs accumulate holiday days

Annual holiday accrues to employees for months where they have worked for at least 14 days or 35 hours, depending on the working hours agreed in the employment contract. So-called periods equivalent to time at work are also counted as these days and hours. With certain restrictions, lay-offs are periods equivalent to time at work.

You can find the right answers to the accrual of holiday for lay-off periods by checking if you belong to group 1,2 or 3:

 1. Your work was more permanent and you have been laid off fully 

You have been laid off fully. Under your employment contract, when employed you work at least 14 days a month (you are covered by the 14-day rule for earning annual holiday).

You accumulate holiday for a maximum of 30 days when you would have been at work if you hadn’t been laid off. A full-time employee obtains these 30 working days if laid off for a period of 6 weeks. A part-time employee who works e.g. 4 days a week when employed reaches 30 working days in 7.5 lay-off weeks.

If a lay-off lasts a period equivalent to a maximum of 30 working days at a time, then annual holiday accrues in the normal way without any modifications.
If a lay-off lasts several months without interruption, then holiday still only accrues for a period equivalent to 30 working days.

Mannonen points out that going to work cuts off the 30-day calculation. If an employee works in between lay-offs, the 30-day calculation starts again at the beginning of each period separately.

“Just one working day is enough to cut off the 30-day calculation, and if lay-off continues holiday again accrues for a period equivalent to 30 working days”, Mannonen sayS.

2. You have only worked a little and you have been laid off fully 

You have been laid off fully. According to your employment contract, when employed you only work a little, but at least 35 hours a month (you are covered by the so-called 35-hour earning rule).

The period for which you accrue annual holiday is considered to be a period of a maximum of 42 calendar days, i.e. a lay-off lasting 6 weeks.

If the lay-off lasts longer than 6 weeks, then holiday does not accrue as of the 7th week.
 

3. You are partly laid off, meaning for example your working week has been reduced 

You have been laid off part-time, meaning your working week has been reduced or another comparable working time arrangement has been applied. An employee laid off part-time can work alternate weeks, for example.

An employee laid off part-time accrues annual holiday for a period of 6 months starting from the beginning of the lay-off arrangement. Lay-off days or hours are not counted, only months.

“A 6-month period accruing new holiday starts if the part-time lay-off continues beyond the holiday credit year, i.e. beyond 31 March. Then a new 6-month period always starts on 1 April”, Mannonen says.

The 6-month calculation also restarts if you work a full working week during the lay-off. The same applies if you have been laid off on alternate weeks and you work two consecutive working weeks.  

“You should also remember that employees always accrue annual holiday for all months when they work enough – depending on the earnings rule this is either 14 days or at least 35 hours”, Mannonen says.