Should an employment contract terminate, what rights do workers have regarding vacations? The Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) states that “upon the termination of the employment contract, the worker is entitled to receive vacation pay and the corresponding allowance“:
- Corresponding to accrued but unused vacation days;
- Proportional to the length of service provided in the year of termination.
“In the case of contract termination in the calendar year following the admission or when the contract duration is not more than 12 months, the total computation of vacation days or the corresponding remuneration to which the worker is entitled cannot exceed what is proportional to the annual vacation period, considering the contract duration,” explains ACT in a FAQ section on its website.
Furthermore, “if the contract is terminated after a prolonged period of worker impediment, the worker is entitled to vacation pay and allowance corresponding to the service time provided in the year the suspension began.”
What is the vacation pay and corresponding allowance?
According to ACT, “the vacation allowance corresponds to the pay the worker would receive if they were in active service”.
“Besides this remuneration, the worker is entitled to vacation allowance, which includes the base remuneration and other compensations that are a counterpart to the specific mode of work execution, corresponding to the minimum vacation pay and proportionally in case of intermittent vacation usage,” it states.
Some examples provided by ACT:
- What vacation does a worker admitted on May 1, 2021, get? The worker is entitled, in the year of hire (2021), to 16 working days of vacation (8 months X 2 working days = 16 working days), which can be taken after 6 months of contract execution (i.e., in November) and should be taken by the end of the year. In the following year, they are entitled to an additional 22 working days of vacation.
- What vacation does a worker admitted on July 1, 2021, get? The worker is entitled, in the year of admission (2021), to 12 working days of vacation (6 months X 2 working days = 12 working days) that accrue the following year, to be taken by June 30. In 2022, they earn the right to an additional 22 working days of vacation. However, since both vacation periods will necessarily be taken in the calendar year following admission, the total of these two vacation periods reaches 34 working days (12 + 22 = 34 working days). However, the worker cannot take more than 30 working days of vacation in the calendar year following the year of admission. The worker’s vacation, which was 34 days, will be reduced to 30 working days.
- What vacation does a worker admitted on June 1, 2021, get? In the year of admission (2021), the worker is entitled to 14 working days of vacation (7 months X 2 days = 14 days), which can be taken from December 1 onward. In this case, the 14 vacation days from the year of admission do not add to the 22 working days that accrue the following year because, after the vesting of the vacation in the admission year (i.e., on December 1), the worker has enough time to fully enjoy their vacation entitlement. And even if they enjoy this vacation period in the following year, the provision in article 239, paragraph 3, of the Labor Code does not apply — that is, the vacation period will not be reduced to 30 days. If the vacation in the admission year vested within that same year, with the possibility of being taken in that year, they cannot be accumulated with the vested vacation in the following year for the purposes of applying the 30-day limit.
- Term contracts shorter than 6 months. Term contracts lasting less than six months have a specific vacation regime. If the contract lasts less than six months, the worker is entitled to two working days of vacation for each complete month of the contract duration — for instance, a worker with a 3-month contract is entitled to 3 months X 2 working days = 6 working days.
- Suspension of vacation due to illness. A worker begins their 15 working days of vacation on August 1, ending on August 22. However, the worker falls ill on August 8 and informs the employer of their illness, suspending the vacation. The worker recovers and resumes their vacation from August 17 to August 22. The remaining vacation days not taken due to illness will be scheduled by mutual agreement. Should there be no agreement, the employer will schedule the remaining vacation days, which can be arranged outside the period from May 1 to October 31.
If you are looking for other examples similar to your case, you can find more here, selecting the ‘vacations’ option.
