Now that spring is in full swing and the sun is starting to shine again, it's time to make plans for days off and fun activities. There are several public holidays in the first half of the year, which often leads to the question: is an employee entitled to a paid day off? Although the law does not provide clear guidelines for this, collective labor agreements and practical solutions such as the annual hours system can provide clarity. In this article we explore the different aspects of paid time off on public holidays and what your rights are as an employee.

Legal Regulations and Collective Labor Agreements

Legally, there is nothing laid down about paid days off on public holidays. This means that there is no general obligation for employers to give employees a paid day off. However, agreements may have been made about this in a collective labor agreement. If there are no collective labor agreements, it is up to the employer to decide whether employees receive a paid day off, depending on the business conditions.

Challenges for Part-Time Employees

Many public holidays fall on a Monday, which can be disadvantageous for part-time employees who are normally free on that day. The question of whether an employer must compensate a part-time worker for an official holiday that falls on his or her day off has not yet been definitively answered in case law. The Institute for Human Rights has ruled several times that no distinction may be made based on working hours. This means that employers must ensure that every employee, regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time, has an equal number of proportionate hours off work.

Advice from the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights

Although the judgment of the Institute for Human Rights is well substantiated, it is not a legally binding judgment. Employers are therefore not obliged to follow this judgment, and judges are not obliged to do so either. However, there is a real chance that judges will follow the judgment.

The Annual Hours System: A Practical Solution

To avoid discussions, employers can use an annual hours system. This first determines how many working days there are in a year by reducing the total number of days per year by weekends and public holidays that do not fall on a weekend. This number of days is then divided by five to determine the number of working weeks. The number of working weeks is multiplied by the average working hours per week for the employee. The outcome of this is the number of hours the employee must work that year. With this system, each employee receives the same number of days off in proportion to the number of hours they have to work.

Importance of collective labor agreement control

Some collective labor agreements already include the annual hours system, especially in sectors where employees are not exempt from work on official holidays, such as healthcare and seasonal sectors. It is therefore important to always check the collective labor agreement to see what is regulated in it.

Compensation in the Absence of Collective Labor Agreement

If there is no collective labor agreement and no agreements have been made about compensation for missed holidays, the employee may be entitled to compensation for holidays that fall on a part-time day.

Source

This news item is based on an article by Salaris This Morning, published on April 9, 2025. For more information, see Salaris This MorningHoliday or working day: when is an employee entitled to a paid day off? · Salary This morning.