Statutory and non-statutory vacation days, how does it work again?

Every employee in the Netherlands is entitled by law to vacation days, but you cannot force them to take them immediately. In a collective labor agreement (CAO) or employment contract, it may also be specified that an employee has additional non-statutory vacation days. What is the difference, and how are they accrued? What about expiration periods and possible payout?

Accrual and distinction between statutory and non-statutory vacation days

By law, you are entitled to a minimum number of vacation days = statutory leave. This equals four times the number of hours an employee works per week and is prorated to match the terms of your employment. If you work 40 hours per week, you are entitled to 160 vacation hours (4 × 40), which is 20 vacation days. If you work, for example, 28 hours per week, you are entitled to 112 vacation hours (4 × 28), or 14 vacation days. During vacation, your employer continues to pay your salary. Statutory vacation days also accrue during maternity leave or sick leave.

These are your statutory vacation days. Any days beyond this fall under non-statutory leave. So if you receive, for example, five extra vacation days in a year, these count as non-statutory leave.

If you want to take leave, your employer must respond within two weeks of your request. If they do not respond within this period, the law states that the vacation is granted as the employee requested.

Expiration periods and validity of statutory and non-statutory vacation days

• Your statutory vacation days are valid for 6 months after the accrual year. So if you accrued your days in 2020, they expire on July 1, 2021. Unless other agreements are made in your employment contract or collective labor agreement (CAO), your employer cannot force you to take your statutory vacation days.
• Non-statutory vacation days are valid for a longer period: up to 5 years after the accrual year. For example, non-statutory vacation days accrued in 2020 can be taken by the employee until the end of 2025. Again, the employee cannot be forced to take non-statutory vacation days. However, by mutual agreement with the employer, non-statutory vacation days may be exchanged for sick leave or special leave.

Paying out vacation days: is this allowed for the employer?

• During employment, statutory vacation days cannot be bought out. At the end of the employment, however, they can be paid out in the final settlement.
• At the employee’s request, non-statutory vacation days can always be paid out. The employer may not do this on their own initiative. Payment can only take place after mutual agreement.

How do you track statutory and non-statutory leave?

Because of differences in contracts, expiration periods, and possibly partially paid non-statutory leave, tracking statutory and non-statutory leave can be a time-consuming task. Especially if you update it manually. To avoid financial mistakes, you can digitize and automate leave tracking. All accrued hours are recorded accurately, so leave accrual happens automatically. This saves time, ensures you never pay out more than the employee is entitled to, and prevents disputes with staff over leave balances.

Sharing leave balances with your employees

By giving employees access to their leave balances, you can encourage them to take vacation days. Hardworking colleagues need sufficient physical and mental rest, but as mentioned earlier, you cannot force them to take leave. If you want to give your employees insight into their leave balance, a staff planning app, or leave app, is a useful tool. Through a dashboard with personal data, employees can see not only their schedule but also how many leave hours they have. The app is accessible from anywhere, and the data is updated in real time.

When employees have insight into their leave balance, they won’t wait until the end of the year to take their statutory and non-statutory vacation hours, because they can see it well in advance. This also benefits the staff planners, who won’t be left scrambling at the last minute for missing personnel, ensuring a balanced work schedule. How convenient!