When it comes to vacation leave and special leave, a conflict of interest often arises: employees and employers have different priorities. That is why it is important to make clear arrangements ahead of time, about taking leave and the possibility of working part time. How did all of those different types of leave work again? In this blog, we outline the relevant laws and interesting facts and figures just for you!

Time for a vacation!

The minimum amount of vacation leave an employee may take is comprised of four times the number of work days per week, unless the collective agreement allows for more vacation days. Since 2012, the leave build-up of an employee during a long-term illness is the same as that of their colleagues who are fit for work. If they take a vacation, they do need to spend their leave balance for that.

Contingency and health care provision

If, without warning, an exceptional situation occurs, employees have a right to contingency leave. A reasonable request – for instance in the case of illness or a break-in – should be granted, even if it was not in the collective agreement. During contingency leave, which is always short-term, you have to continue paying their salary. This is not the case during a long-term period of carer’s leave.

Baby on the way

Women are entitled to pregnancy and maternity leave from 16 weeks of pregnancy onward. The leave must start at least 4 weeks before the set due date and must end 6 weeks after the birth – even if the pregnancy takes longer than expected.

Women who are expecting multiple births currently get 4 weeks of extra leave, but as of april first, 2018, this will change. The total leave of 16 weeks will become a minimum of 20 weeks for these mothers.

Caring for little ones

Parents or carers of a child until the age of 8 can take temporary unpaid parental leave. From 2017, employees do not need to be employed for at least a year, and can decide for themselves how the leave will be scheduled. The maximum period of parental leave is 26 weeks. Afterwards, parents may request a temporary change in their work schedule in order to care for their children. Employers should, in principle, agree to this.

Working less hours

If employees request to work less hours a week, employers should, in principle, accept this, unless the company would be put in a dire situation because of it. If an organisation contains less than 10 employees, this rule does not apply. In that case, another arrangement should be made.

Leave: manage it well!

Whichever way you manage your leave, only one thing matters: you must keep it organized. All the different types of statutory and exceeding statutory leave, along with deviating collective agreements, can make it pretty complicated. Therefore, you should work with a user-friendly cloud-based leave registration system. That way you and your employees are always up to date on the current leave situation!