The Holiday Act

• You are entitled to 2.08 vacation days, which are earned each month.
• Your vacation is scheduled with 3 months' notice for the main vacation period and 1 month's notice for the remaining vacation, unless an extension of the notice periods has been agreed upon. The main vacation period is from May 1st to September 30th.
• Payment during vacation is your regular salary plus a vacation allowance of 1% or vacation pay of 12.5%.
• There is an option to transfer and pay out unused vacation days.

The Holiday Act entitles you to 5 weeks of vacation per year. You are entitled to paid vacation if you have been employed during the preceding period when the vacation is earned, now called the vacation year, which runs from September 1st to August 31st. You earn 0.07 vacation days per day, equivalent to 2.08 vacation days per month. If you have only been employed for part of the vacation year, you will only receive payment for part of your vacation, and if you have not earned the right to paid vacation with your employer, 4.8% of your monthly salary will be deducted per day you take vacation.

As a supplement to the Holiday Act, your employment contract, collective agreements, or other arrangements within your company may include provisions granting you additional vacation days and care days. You earn vacation during pregnancy and maternity leave for the part of the period where your employer pays full or partial salary, including pension.

The period in which you earn your vacation is called the vacation year, running from September 1st to August 31st. The vacation can be taken 16 months ahead, from September 1st to December 31st of the following year. Part of the earning period (September 1st to December 31st) will therefore overlap with the vacation period, allowing you to take more than 5 weeks of vacation in one vacation period if needed. However, you still only earn five weeks of vacation in one earning period.

Concurrent vacation

Concurrent vacation means you can take your vacation with pay while it is being earned. For example, you earn 2.08 vacation days in September 2020, which you can use already in October 2020, and by December 2020, you will have earned 6 days that can be used for the Christmas holiday. The new rules on concurrency benefit newcomers and re-entrants to the labor market, who previously had to work for up to a year before earning the right to paid vacation.

The Holiday Act allows you to take vacation that you have not yet earned. This can happen if you agree with your employer to take vacation in advance, which you will then earn afterward. Such an agreement can only be made if your employer agrees. It is not a right. If you wish to take vacation you have not yet earned and your employer does not accept using vacation in advance, 4.8% of your salary per unearned vacation day will be deducted, as before.

Your employer can choose between two models:

• The vacation allowance is paid continuously when you take vacation.
• The vacation allowance is split and paid twice a year.

In the latter model, the first installment of your vacation allowance will be what you earn from September 1st to May 31st. It should be paid with your salary for May. The second installment is the vacation allowance you earn from June 1st to August 31st, and it will be paid with your August salary.
 

Framework for Vacation Taking

The Holiday Act gives you the right to 5 weeks of vacation during the vacation-taking period from September 1st to December 31st of the following year, regardless of whether you are entitled to pay for all 5 weeks. As an employee, you are entitled to take 4 weeks of vacation during the accrual period from September 1st to August 31st, and you have the right to take 3 of these weeks during the main vacation period from May 1st to August 31st.

It cannot be agreed that less than 2 consecutive weeks of vacation are taken during the main vacation period, even if this is stipulated in a contract. This is due to the recreational purpose of the Holiday Act, where the legislator aims to ensure that vacations are taken for a sufficient length of time. The employer bears the risk of a possible fine if the 4 weeks of vacation are not taken within the vacation-taking period.

Vacation days cannot be placed on Danish public holidays, on days that are already days off, or on the weekly day off, usually Sunday. This also applies to agreed time-off days. Vacation cannot be taken on days when you are prevented from taking vacation, such as during maternity leave, if you are sick, or if you are performing military service.

Your normal workweek determines when a vacation is considered to have begun and ended. So, if you normally work Monday to Friday, the vacation begins on Monday morning and ends on Friday at the close of normal working hours.

If there is a difference in working hours between the accrual and vacation-taking periods, the new law states that vacation pay should follow the working hours at the time of accrual. For example, if you are working full-time in March 2021 and are taking vacation using days accrued in the fall of 2020 when you were part-time, you will receive vacation pay corresponding to part-time work in March 2021 when the vacation is taken.

Vacation scheduling

You and your employer must negotiate when you want to take vacation. If you have school-age children, your employer should consider this if you wish to take vacation during your children's school summer holidays.

Your employer must inform you as early as possible and at least 3 months before the main vacation and 1 month before your other vacation when you can take vacation. This applies to both new vacation and any vacation that may have been carried over from a previous vacation period.

Vacation carried over from a previous vacation period must be taken first. Then either the main vacation or other vacation can be taken in the order you agree with your employer.

If your employer changes a planned vacation—this should only happen in extraordinary cases – you must be compensated for financial losses, such as a canceled trip. For your employer to change your vacation, the following conditions must be met:

• There must be significant operational reasons before the vacation can be changed.
• The situation must be unpredictable for your employer.
• You must be essential to solving the situation.

Your employer can never require you to interrupt an already started vacation unless you are employed by the state. If this happens and you agree to it, it is important to agree on compensation for the interruption before you return to work. There are no payment rules because the situation should not occur in the first place.

Transfer of vacation

It can be agreed between you and your employer that earned, paid vacation days beyond 4 weeks can be transferred to the next vacation period. There is no formal requirement for the agreement other than it must be in writing and made no later than December 31st. The employer must notify the Holiday Fund or another holiday pay administrator by December 31st.

You are generally entitled to have your vacation paid out if all vacation is not taken before the end of the vacation period. The employer cannot give notice of your vacation if it is only addressed in December.

Limitation

Your claim for vacation pay, salary during vacation, or vacation allowance is time-barred if you do not raise the claim with your employer no later than 3 years after the end of the vacation year.

If your employer does not fulfill the requirement, it is forfeited unless you seek to enforce the claim in court, for example, via PROSA, within the same period, no later than 3 years after the end of the vacation year.

Special conditions

Vacation obstacles

What happens to vacation when you have a vacation obstacle?

The law states that the first 4 weeks of earned paid vacation should generally be transferred if there is a vacation obstacle. Transferred vacation due to a vacation obstacle can only be exceptionally paid out.

If there has been illness or maternity leave during the main vacation period from May 1st to September 30th, the vacation will only be transferred to the next vacation period if there is no recovery or return before the end of the vacation period. This means that the normal notice rules of 1 month for the remaining vacation and 3 months for the main vacation are waived so that legal notice of the vacation is not required if the notice and vacation cannot be accommodated before the vacation period ends on December 31st.
 

Example

Jon falls ill on March 31st, 2021, and is still ill at the end of December 2021. In this case, there is a vacation obstacle during the main vacation period, and Jon cannot take his earned vacation before the vacation period ends on December 31st, 2021. Jon can make an agreement with his employer to transfer 4 weeks of vacation and pay out the 5th vacation week. The purpose of the Holiday Act is to ensure that as much vacation as possible is taken rather than paid out.

As much vacation as possible should be taken before the end of the vacation period. Therefore, a maximum of 4 weeks of vacation can be transferred from one vacation period to the next if there is no recovery before the end of the vacation period, even if 5 weeks of vacation have been earned. The 5th vacation week is automatically paid out if it is not taken due to a vacation obstacle. If 4 weeks of vacation have been transferred to the next vacation period and you resign from your position, the vacation can be paid out as vacation pay instead.

At least 4 weeks of vacation must be transferred to the following vacation year if there has been a vacation obstacle throughout the vacation period. Transferred vacation from previous vacation years must be taken before the newly transferred vacation. Transferred vacation does not count towards the 4-week vacation obligation.

In case of death

If you die before leaving the labor market, the money will be paid out to your survivors.

In case of employer bankruptcy

It does not matter if your employer goes bankrupt because your money is secured in the "Employees' Fund for Outstanding Holiday Pay." The Fund pays out the money, and you do not need to contact an employer to get it.

Vacation during the notice period

If you are dismissed and your notice period is 3 months or less, you cannot take your main vacation during the notice period unless your notice period is extended by the number of vacation days. This applies even if vacation was previously agreed upon. If you wish to keep your previously agreed vacation, you must make a special agreement with your employer.

Your employer may also notify you that you must take vacation during the notice period. For other vacations, only 1 month's notice is required, and for the main vacation, 3 months' notice is required.

If you are released from work, the vacation is considered taken if the release period is long enough for both the vacation notice rules and your vacation to be included. This means that your vacation can only be considered taken if you have had a work-free period corresponding to the length of the vacation after the notice period has expired.

The vacation is not considered taken if you start a new job during your release period and your employer offsets your new salary against the salary you are entitled to during the release period. The vacation is considered taken if your previous employer is not entitled to offset your salary at the time of the vacation or if you take vacation with your new employer before the notice period expires.

If you are a salaried employee, this only matters if your release period is longer than 3 months, as your previous employer is only entitled to offset after this period. However, it still applies that you cannot start vacation if you are ill.

If you have resigned from your position, it does not affect your agreed vacation. Your employer may, in certain extraordinary cases, change your agreed vacation if you are taking vacation during the majority of your notice period. If the employer does so, you must be compensated for any financial loss, such as a canceled trip. In any case, we recommend that you contact PROSA if this becomes relevant.
 

Vacation pay upon resignation

If you resign from a job where you have had paid vacation, you will receive vacation pay of 12.5% of your salary for the current vacation year and for the previous earning year if you have not taken all your vacation. The value of vacation already taken is calculated proportionally. So, for example, if you have earned 25 days and taken 15, you will receive 10/25 of the full vacation pay.

Your employer must report the vacation pay for the vacation days you have not taken on the last banking day of the month in which you resign.

You do not earn vacation allowance or vacation pay on vacation allowance, salary during vacation, or vacation pay. However, all salary components, such as overtime pay, pension contributions, shift allowances, and on-call allowances, are included in the calculation basis.
 

Special vacation days

With some private employers, you may earn the right to special vacation days – often 5 days. These days are not covered by the Holiday Act but are an agreement between you and your employer. This means that if you do not take them during the vacation year, you generally cannot carry them over to the next vacation year. Such a transfer must be agreed upon separately with your employer.

Unused special vacation days also cannot be immediately paid out when you resign from your position. The payout must also be agreed upon with your employer.