Annual leave

Last updated

Annual leave, also known as statutory leave, is a period of paid time off work granted by employers to employees to be used for whatever the employee wishes. Depending on the employer's policies, differing number of days may be offered, and the employee may be required to give a certain amount of advance notice, may have to coordinate with the employer to be sure that staffing is available during the employee's absence, and other requirements may have to be met. [1] The vast majority of countries today mandate a minimum amount of paid annual leave by law. [2]

Contents

Among the larger countries, China requires at least five days' paid annual leave and India requires two days of paid leave for every month worked. The United States mandates no minimum paid leave, treating it as a perk rather than a right. [3]

Leave

RegionMandated paid vacation days
Argentina 10 – 20
Australia 20 [4]
Austria 25
Belgium 20
Brazil 20 – 30
Canada 10 – 20
Colombia 15
Czech Republic 20
Denmark 25 – 30
Finland 20 – 25
France 25
Germany 20 – 30
Greece 20
Hong Kong start from 0 in the 1st year, then 7 – 14 [5]
India 25
Indonesia 12
Italy 20
Japan 10 – 20 [6]
Luxembourg 26
Mexico 12 [7]
Netherlands Employees receive annual leave hours equivalent to 4 times the number of contractual hours per work week.
New Zealand 20
Poland 20 – 26
Portugal 22 – 25
Russian Federation 28 calendar days [8]
Singapore 7 – 14
South Africa 15 – 21 [9]
South Korea 11 – 15
Spain 22
Sweden 25 – 30
Switzerland 20
Turkey 14 – 26
United Kingdom 28 [10]
United States 0
Note: Paid vacation excludes paid public holidays. [11]

Most countries have labour laws that mandate employers give a certain number of paid time-off days per year to workers.

Canada requires at least two weeks, which increases to three weeks for employees that have worked for a certain number of years (In Saskatchewan this entitlement starts out at three weeks and increases to four weeks). [12] An additional fourth week is provided to federally regulated workers after working for a further number of years. [13]

In the European Union the countries can set freely the minimum, but it has to be at least equivalent to 4 working weeks. [14] In the Netherlands this is achieved by mandating at minimum 4 times the number of contracted hours in a person's working week; e.g. if someone works 4 days of 7 hours a week, the annual leave hours a year is 112 at minimum.

Full-time employees in Australia are entitled to at least 20 annual leave days a year. [15]

In New Zealand, 20 days' paid leave is also the normal minimum in addition to the 11 paid statutory holidays (e.g. Christmas, New Year's Day). [16] However, many employers offer 5 or more weeks, especially in the public sector.

Some countries, such as Denmark and Italy, or particular companies may mandate summer holidays in specific periods. [17]

Argentina has different labour laws for public employment and private employment. Public employees have between a minimum of 21 days paid to 45 days paid for vacations (including holidays and weekends). Private employees have between a minimum of 14 paid days to 28 paid days (including holidays and weekends). In both cases are always relying on the years of service. The more years the worker has worked the more days of paid vacation they will have.

UK employers offer 28 days per annum of annual leave with a further 8 public holidays, [10] these are referred to as Bank Holidays. Some employers may include the 8 bank holidays within their annual leave decreasing it to 20 days.

US federal law does not require employers to grant any vacation or holidays, though, as of 2007, only about 25 percent of all employees receive no paid vacation time or paid holidays. [18] Due to the lack of federal legislative requirements, paid leave in the US is mainly a matter of employment contracts and labor union agreements. [19] [20] Some jurisdictions within the US, including the states of Maine and Nevada, require paid time-off days. [21]

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the United States, the average paid holidays for full-time employees in small private establishments in 1996 was 7.6 days. [22]

Consecutive holidays

Consecutive holidays refers to holidays that occur in a group without working days in between. In the late 1990s, the Japanese government passed a law that increased the likelihood of consecutive holidays by moving holidays from fixed days to a relative position in a month, such as the second Monday.

In New Zealand, consecutive paid holidays occur for Christmas/Boxing Day, New Year's Eve/New Year's Day, and Good Friday/Easter Monday, the last of which straddle a weekend. However, these are among 11 'statutory paid holidays' that are additional to 'paid annual leave'.

See also

Related Research Articles

Labour laws, labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship between employee, employer, and union.

Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways:

The labour law concept of leave, specifically paid leave or, in some countries' long-form, a leave of absence, is an authorised prolonged absence from work, for any reason authorised by the workplace. When people "take leave" in this way, they are usually taking days off from their work that have been pre-approved by their employer in their contracts of employment. Labour laws normally mandate that these paid-leave days be compensated at either 100% of normal pay, or at a very high percentage of normal days' pay, such as 75% or 80%. A furlough is a type of leave.

The Employment Standards Act of British Columbia (Canada), is legislation enacted by the provincial government of British Columbia to protect the rights of working people. Sections within the act outline the employers responsibility to their employees, notably things such as minimum wage, meal breaks, and parental leave. The act also works to protect residents of the province by preventing employment discrimination.

A severance package is pay and benefits that employees may be entitled to receive when they leave employment at a company unwilfully. In addition to their remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:

Japanese labour law is the system of labour law operating in Japan.

Sick leave is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because sick leave is intended for health-related purposes. Sick leave can include a mental health day and taking time away from work to go to a scheduled doctor's appointment. Some policies also allow paid sick time to be used to care for sick family members, or to address health and safety needs related to domestic violence or sexual assault. Menstrual leave is another type of time off work for a health-related reason, but it is not always paid.

Paid time off, planned time off, or personal time off (PTO), is a policy in some employee handbooks that provides a bank of hours in which the employer pools sick days, vacation days, and personal days that allows employees to use as the need or desire arises. This policy pertains mainly to the United States, where there are no federal legal requirements for a minimum number of paid vacation days. Instead, U.S. companies determine the amount of paid time off that will be allotted to employees, while keeping in mind the payoff in recruiting and retaining employees.

The Labor Code of the Philippines is the legal code governing employment practices and labor relations in the Philippines. It was enacted through Presidential Decree No. 442 on Labor day, May 1, 1974, by President Ferdinand Marcos in the exercise of his then extant legislative powers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938</span> United States wage law

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 29 U.S.C. § 203 (FLSA) is a United States labor law that creates the right to a minimum wage, and "time-and-a-half" overtime pay when people work over forty hours a week. It also prohibits employment of minors in "oppressive child labor". It applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption from coverage. The Act was enacted by the 75th Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938.

Iranian labor law describes the rules of employment in Iran. As a still developing country, Iran is considerably behind by international standards. It has failed to ratify the two basic Conventions of the International Labour Organization on freedom of association and collective bargaining, and one on abolition of child labor. Countries such as the US and India have also failed to ratify many of these Conventions and a mere 14 other Conventions, only 2 since the Islamic Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian labour law</span> Laws regulating labour in India

Indian labour law refers to law regulating labour in India. Traditionally, the Indian government at the federal and state levels has sought to ensure a high degree of protection for workers, but in practice, this differs due to the form of government and because labour is a subject in the concurrent list of the Indian Constitution. The Minimum Wages Act 1948 requires companies to pay the minimum wage set by the government alongside limiting working weeks to 40 hours. Overtime is strongly discouraged with the premium on overtime being 100% of the total wage. The Payment of Wages Act 1936 mandates the payment of wages on time on the last working day of every month via bank transfer or postal service. The Factories Act 1948 and the Shops and Establishment Act 1960 mandate 15 working days of fully paid vacation leave and 7 casual leaves each year to each employee, with an additional 7 fully paid sick days. The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 gives female employees of every company the right to take 6 months' worth of fully paid maternity leave. It also provides for 6 weeks worth of paid leaves in case of miscarriage or medical termination of pregnancy. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation and the Employees' State Insurance, governed by statutory acts provide workers with necessary social security for retirement benefits and medical and unemployment benefits respectively. Workers entitled to be covered under the Employees' State Insurance are also entitled to 90 days worth of paid medical leaves. A contract of employment can always provide for more rights than the statutory minimum set rights. The Indian parliament passed four labour codes in the 2019 and 2020 sessions. These four codes will consolidate 44 existing labour laws. They are: The Industrial Relations Code 2020, The Code on Social Security 2020, The Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 and The Code on Wages 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Working Time Regulations 1998</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Working Time Regulations 1998 is a statutory instrument in UK labour law which implemented the EU Working Time Directive 2003. It was updated in 1999, but these amendments were then withdrawn in 2006 following a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice. It does not extend to Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wage theft</span> Denial of wages or employee benefits rightfully owed to an employee

Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum-wage laws; the misclassification of employees as independent contractors; illegal deductions in pay; forcing employees to work "off the clock"; not paying annual leave or holiday entitlements; or simply not paying an employee at all.

Turkish labour law provides a number of protections to employees, governed by the Labor Code, Trade Union Law, and the Constitution.

The Danish Holiday Act is a Danish law regulating holiday time for employees.The act states how many days of paid holiday most employees in Denmark are legally entitled to. The law covers employees who receive wages for work performed in compliance with an employer, not including freelancers and employees working for the state. A new law was passed on 25 January 2018 by the Danish Parliament. It consists of a new concept of concurrent holidays and includes a transition period from 1 September 2019 – 31 August 2020 before being implemented on 1 September 2020. The concept of concurrent holidays allows employees to earn 2.08 holiday days each month, which they have access to use immediately, as opposed to the old scheme where workers earned holiday days for the following year.

Labour law regulates the legal relationship in Bulgaria between individual workers and employees as well as between coalitions and representative bodies.

Italy does not have a nationally unified labor code. Labor legislation is wide-ranging, with laws, regulations and statutes that bear on labor relations. The Constitution of Italy contains declarations of principle relating to fair payment, maximum working hours, vacation, protection of women and minors, social insurance, illness, disability, industrial diseases and accidents, Freedom of Association and the right to strike. The Workers' Statute of 1970 was modified, and plays an important role.

Legislation relating to employment in the Republic of Ireland governs the provision and content of the contract of employment, payment of wages, length of the working day and working week, and dismissal procedures.

References

  1. "FMLA Frequently Asked Questions | U.S. Department of Labor". www.dol.gov. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  2. "Additional leave entitlements for working parents" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 September 2015.
  3. Johanson, Mark. "Life in a no-vacation nation". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  4. "Employees pay, leave and entitlements" . Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  5. "The Employment Ordinance, Cap. 57".
  6. Osaka Labour Bureau. "Encouraging Workers to Take Annual Paid Leave" (PDF). Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  7. Diario Oficial de la Federación. "DECRETO por el que se reforman los artículos 76 y 78 de la Ley Federal del Trabajo, en materia de vacaciones" (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  8. "Labor Code of the Russian Federation". www.consultant.ru (in Russian).
  9. "Annual Leave and the labour laws in South Africa". Mywage.co.za. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  10. 1 2 "Holiday entitlement". GOV.UK. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  11. Ghosheh 2013.
  12. Ray, Sanes & Schmitt 2013, p. 10.
  13. Canada, Employment and Social Development (29 July 2015). "Annual vacations". www.canada.ca. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  14. "COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 93/104/EC". Official Journal of the European Communities. L 307: 20. 23 November 1993.
  15. Ray & Schmitt 2007, pp. 1–3, 8.
  16. "Minimum leave and holidays". Employment New Zealand. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  17. "NON-STANDARD EMPLOYMENT AROUND THE WORLD" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2020.
  18. Ray & Schmitt 2007, p. 1.
  19. "Leave Benefits". U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  20. "Paid Leave in the U.S." Kaiser Family Foundation. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  21. Douglas, Genevieve (12 July 2019). "Paid Leave 'for Any Reason' Laws Embraced by States, Localities". Bloomberg Law . Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  22. "Employee Benefits in Small Private Industry Establishments, 1996" (Press release). Washington: US Bureau of Labor Statistics. 15 June 1998. Retrieved 14 July 2018.

Bibliography