Workplace leave policies: what employers need to consider

Leave policies: the key points

• A leave policy explains how employees submit requests and how the company reviews and approves them.
• Germany's Federal Leave Act provides the legal framework. Internal rules cannot simply reduce statutory minimum rights.
• Where a German works council exists, it has co-determination rights over general leave principles and the leave schedule under section 87(1), no. 5 of the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG).
• absentify lets you put agreed leave processes into practice directly in Microsoft Teams and Outlook.

What does a leave policy cover?

A leave policy describes how a company handles time off in day-to-day work. It might specify where requests are submitted, who processes them and how overlapping dates are assessed.

This differs from leave entitlement, which determines how many days someone can take. The policy explains how those days are planned and granted within the business.

A leave schedule has a narrower purpose too: it shows absences already planned. The policy establishes the framework used to create that schedule.

Which leave rules are required by law?

In Germany, the starting point is the Federal Leave Act. Under section 7(1) BUrlG, employers must generally take employees' preferred dates into account. Urgent operational needs or competing requests with greater social priority may justify choosing other dates.

Collective agreements, works agreements and employment contracts may contain further provisions. For teams elsewhere, check the applicable national rules: for example, GOV.UK explains the UK's notice requirements for booking time off, which differ from the German framework described here.

Section 13 BUrlG limits departures from German statutory leave rights. Outside the scope allowed for collective agreements, statutory provisions generally cannot be varied to the employee's disadvantage.

What should a workplace leave policy specify?

Focus on the questions that come up repeatedly in everyday planning. How detailed the policy needs to be depends on the company's size and structure.

Make the policy easy to find. A detailed procedure achieves little if individual teams still use their own methods.

Put internal deadlines in context

Germany's Federal Leave Act does not set a general deadline requiring every request to be submitted a fixed number of weeks before leave begins. Companies can set their own planning windows, particularly for longer holidays or popular school holiday periods. These remain internal procedures and should be communicated as such. Do not assume this approach applies in countries with statutory notice rules.

Make responsibilities clear

Every request should reach a clearly identified approver. In larger organisations, responsibilities may differ by department. Define cover for managers who are away as well. Otherwise, requests can sit unanswered even when the proposed dates would be straightforward to assess.

How should a leave policy handle competing requests?

Several requests for the same dates are initially a planning issue. A conflict arises only when they cannot all be accommodated. Section 7(1) BUrlG allows employers to depart from requested dates where urgent operational needs or competing requests with greater social priority justify doing so.

German law does not provide a fixed ranking for every situation. The policy should therefore describe how such cases are assessed. An up-to-date view of approved absences is part of that process. Minimum staffing levels can support planning, but do not automatically replace the legal assessment of an individual request.

What role does the works council have?

Where a German works council exists, employers cannot set general leave principles alone. Section 87(1), no. 5 BetrVG expressly covers general leave principles and the leave schedule. Co-determination also extends to the timing of an individual employee's leave where employer and employee cannot reach agreement.

This particularly affects rules that go beyond a single request, such as planning procedures or general provisions on leave periods.

How do company shutdowns and leave blackout periods fit in?

Company shutdowns and leave blackout periods both affect when employees take leave, but each needs its own employment law assessment. During a shutdown, the company closes all or part of its operations for a set period.

A blackout period instead restricts the granting of leave during a particular time. Both measures require their own conditions to be checked. A general sentence in the policy is not enough.

Read more in absentify's articles on company shutdowns and leave blackout periods. This keeps the policy focused on its main purpose: the company's recurring leave process.

How do you turn a leave policy into a working process?

Written rules help only when employees and managers can follow them in everyday work.

A practical rollout can follow these steps:

1. Decide which workplace leave rules should apply.
2. Assign a responsible person or role to each request.
3. Make the rules accessible to everyone affected.
4. Configure the agreed workflow in the request system you use.
5. Review whether new team structures or legal changes require an update.

Keep exceptions to the process to a minimum. When individual departments return to separate spreadsheets or informal approvals, the shared policy loses its effect.

How can you avoid mistakes when implementing a leave policy?

Centralising leave and absence management can prevent many everyday mistakes. Instead of checking the same requirements again for every request, absence management software can incorporate agreed rules into the workflow. Everyone then follows the same process and works with the same current information.

absentify, for example, brings leave and absence planning into Microsoft 365. Agreed rules can be reflected in the approval process so requests follow a consistent workflow. Employees continue working in Teams or Outlook while HR manages the process centrally.

Make leave rules part of everyday work

A workplace leave policy should explain how employees request time off and how the company handles conflicts. Statutory rights, co-determination and the actual workflow need to fit together.

With absentify, authorised users can see current leave balances and planned absences in a shared overview.

Your next step: Check whether all teams in your company already follow the same leave process.

Put your leave processes into practice in Microsoft 365

Define your approval workflow and manage absences where your team already works.

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