Answers of the Occupational safety and health authority to questions concerning annual holidays

The planning of annual holidays is now under way at many workplaces, and the occupational safety and health authority’s telephone service often gets enquiries regarding these. In this online news item, we will provide answers to questions that employers and employees often ask us.

Giving a holiday in parts

Must an employee be given a four-week consecutive summer holiday, or can the holiday be given in parts?

As a rule, an employee must be allowed to take their full holiday in one go. Only when it is necessary to keep the work in progress, the part of a holiday exceeding 12 working days (i.e. two weeks) can be divided into one or more parts. In this case, a continuous holiday period of at least two weeks must be given during the summer holiday season. The employer and the employee may also agree that the part of the holiday exceeding 12 working days will be taken in one or more periods no later than one year after the end of the holiday season. 

It is possible for a national collective agreement to contain otherwise agreed provisions on the holiday season and on whether a part of the holiday exceeding 12 working days can be taken in one or more periods. Please check whether there are any relevant provisions in the collective agreement that applies to your work.

The employer determines the timing of annual holidays

I would like to take my summer holiday in July because I am used to doing so. However, my employer said that my summer holiday this year will be in June. Can they do that?

The employer determines the timing of annual holidays. However, the employer must explain to the employees or their representatives the general principles followed at the workplace when granting annual leave. The employer must also provide the employee the opportunity to express their opinion on the timing of the holiday before setting the time of the holiday. Employees’ requests must be taken into account as far as possible, and the employer must observe equality in decisions on the timing of holidays.

In other words, you can express a request for the time of your holiday, but the employer is not obliged to follow your request. If there is need to go through together the principles of giving annual holidays and taking equality into account in decisions on the timing of holidays at your workplace, please ask your employer to do so.

Granting leave on individual days

It sometimes happens that our manager has scheduled individual annual leave days in our shift roster in our shift roster without these being discussed with us in advance. Is this okay?

As explained above, under the Annual Holidays Act the general rule is that both summer holiday and winter holiday are granted in one go. Before granting holidays, the employer must also consult the employee. In addition, it must be noted that the employee must be notified of the time of the holiday no later than one month before the start of the holiday. If this is not possible in exceptional circumstances, the employee must be informed of the timing of the holiday no later than two weeks before the start of the holiday. It is therefore a good idea to discuss this with your employer.

Start of holiday on a day off

An employee works a four-day work week at their own request so that they have a day off on Mondays. Can an annual holiday week be marked to begin from Monday in spite of this?

According to the Annual Holidays Act, annual holidays may not be ordered to begin on the employee’s day off without the employee’s consent if this leads to a reduction in the number of holiday days. If a part of the holiday is three days or less, it may not be granted without the employee’s consent in such a way that the holiday falls in a day off in the employee’s shift roster.

However, in this case, Monday's day off is an arrangement made at the employee's request. The annual holiday accrued is equal to that of a five-day work week arrangement, which means that the annual holiday also runs on the same principle. Under the Annual Holidays Act, a full holiday week will account for six holiday days. A national collective agreement may contain a different agreement on the matter, so it is a good idea to check the collective agreement that applies to your employment relationship. However, in the situation described in the question, annual leave may start on Monday, as it does not lead to a reduction in holiday days. 

Rescheduling of an agreed holiday at the employer’s initiative

My holiday was already scheduled for three weeks starting on Midsummer. Now my employer has said that it will be a busy time at work then and that the employer had to postpone my holiday by two weeks. Can they do this?

The employee must be notified of the time of the holiday no later than one month before the start of the holiday. If this is not possible in exceptional circumstances, the employee must be informed of the timing of the holiday no later than two weeks before the start of the holiday. If the employer has not reported the timing of the holiday as conditional, the employer’s notification is binding and the employee must be able to trust that it will hold. In other words, the employer does not have the unilateral right to cancel an already granted holiday  or postpone it to another date. Changes can only be made by coming to an agreement with the employee or otherwise with the employee’s consent. It is a good idea to do this in writing.

If, despite this, the employer unilaterally changes the dates of an employee’s holiday after the dates have been set, the employer may be liable for the loss thus caused to the employee (Under Chapter 12, section 1 of the Employment Contracts Act 55/2001). The employer may be liable for reimbursing the employee for such things as the costs of cancelling a trip or tickets purchased for events. Please note that the employee does not have the right to demand that their holiday be rescheduled because of costs incurred - after all, the employer always determines the timing of the holiday, even if they are liable for reimbursing the employee for costs.

More information on annual holidays

Read more about the topic on the page Annual holidays. Annual holidays are also discussed in a webinar recording in Finnish. You can view it on the event page Annual holidays information session. The webinar page also contains a link to the podcast section, where answers are given to the public’s questions during the Annual holidays information session.