Winter holiday

Winter holiday is accrued from employment relationships lasting at least a year. It must be granted between 1 October and 30 April. 

Annual holiday refers to both summer holiday and winter holiday. Annual holiday is accrued in the period from 1 April to 31 March, which is called the holiday credit year. The length of the employment relationship and the number of working hours affect how much annual holiday is accrued. 

Earning winter holiday 

If by the end of the holiday credit year (31 March) your employment relationship has lasted less than one year, you have earned 2 days of holiday for each full holiday credit month. If your employment has lasted at least one year by the end of the holiday credit year (31 March), you have earned 2.5 days of holiday for each full holiday credit month. 

Full annual holiday, therefore, is 30 days of holiday (24 summer holiday days + 6 winter holiday days), if the employment relationship started on 1 April.

In exceptional cases, winter holiday can be earned even if the employment relationship did not start on 1 April 2020, if in practice the employee was not able to work then. 

Example: If an employment relationship starts on 2 April, but 1 April was a Sunday and the employee works from Monday to Friday, meaning Saturday and Sunday are days off. In a case like this, the Labour Council considered that because the employment relationship started on the first weekday after 1 April, 2.5 days of annual holiday were accrued already in this holiday credit year (TN 1208-87).

If you work for at least one year in a fixed-term employment relationship, there are also exceptions in calculating one year (assessment is based both on the end of the holiday credit and of the employment relationship).

Example: An employment relationship began on 1 July 1999 and ended on 7 August 2000. The Supreme Court considered that for the holiday credit year beginning 1 April 2000 the employee was entitled to holiday compensation based on entitlement to 2.5 days of annual holiday for each full holiday credit month. (KKO 2005:61.)

Winter holiday 

If a worker has earned winter holiday, it should be granted between 1.10 and 30.4. Sundays, public holidays, Independence day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Epiphany, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Holy Saturday and Easter Monday are days, which are not calculated as holidays.

If a worker is on annual holiday during the Easter week, then the following days are not calculated as holidays; Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday or Easter Monday.

If you fall ill during you annual holiday, you have the right to postpone your holiday straightaway on the first sick day. The worker should however provide the employer with a holiday transfer request without delay, as well as with an adequate explanation of his or hers incapacity to work.