Annual leave calculator 2026

Since 2021, leave is calculated in hours. The annual entitlement = weekly working time × weeks of leave. At a full 40-hour week and 4 weeks of leave that is 160 hours per year. For a partly worked year a pro-rata part applies — 1/52 of the annual entitlement for each worked multiple of the weekly working time. The total entitlement is rounded up to whole hours.

The entitlement (or a pro-rata part for the calendar year) arises once the employment has lasted at least 4 weeks (28 calendar days) and the employee has worked at least 4× the weekly working time — at a full 40-hour week that is 160 worked hours. If less is worked, no leave entitlement arises (the former "leave for worked days" was abolished in the 2021 reform). For example, starting on 1 Aug and ending on 13 Aug (about 2 weeks worked) does not create any entitlement.

Counted in full as work performance: leave taken, compensatory time off, public holidays, maternity leave, parental leave up to the maternity-leave duration, sick leave due to a work injury or occupational disease, and care benefit / care for a child under 10. Counted only up to 20× the weekly working time per year (and only if the employee otherwise worked at least 12× the weekly working time): ordinary sickness (DPN), quarantine, parental leave beyond maternity duration and other important personal obstacles under §199.

Substitute periods such as ordinary sickness, quarantine or parental leave (beyond maternity) count towards leave up to a maximum of 20× the weekly working time per year — but only if the employee actually worked at least 12× the weekly working time outside these absences. Otherwise these periods do not count at all.

Unpaid leave does not count as work performance for leave purposes and reduces the worked time on which the entitlement is based. Unexcused absence, by contrast, does not affect how the entitlement arises — it is handled solely by reducing already-accrued leave under §223 of the Labour Code: the employer may reduce it by the number of unexcused missed hours (1:1) and may add up shorter absences. If employment lasted the whole calendar year, at least 2 weeks of leave must remain after the reduction. If it did not last the whole year (started or ended mid-year), this two-week protection does not apply and leave may be reduced down to zero — but never by more than the number of unexcused missed hours.

Unused leave is paid out only when the employment ends. During employment leave is taken; any unused balance is carried over to the next year.

The statutory minimum is 4 weeks per calendar year (§213 of the Labour Code). Public sector 5 weeks, teachers and academics 8 weeks. Employers may grant more.