Vacation entitlement: the statutory rules that apply to you
Vacation entitlement determines how many days of paid leave you are legally entitled to each year. Germany’s Federal Vacation Act guarantees at least 24 working days for a six-day week, equivalent to 20 days for a five-day week. Your exact entitlement depends on your working days per week, your start date, and special circumstances such as part-time work or termination.
Vacation entitlement: the essentials at a glance
- The statutory minimum vacation is 24 working days per year for a six-day week, equivalent to 20 working days for a five-day week.
- For part-time employees, the number of weekly working days determines the vacation entitlement, regardless of the hours worked each day.
- Before the six-month waiting period has been completed, or when employment ends in the first half of the year after the waiting period, one twelfth of the statutory annual vacation accrues for each full month of employment. If employment ends in the second half of the year after the waiting period, the full statutory minimum entitlement applies.
- absentify shows each employee their current remaining vacation directly in their personal calendar in Microsoft Teams and automatically calculates entitlements using the configured allowance rules, without manual Excel maintenance.
What is the statutory vacation entitlement under Germany’s Federal Vacation Act?
The statutory vacation entitlement is the minimum leave guaranteed by Germany’s Federal Vacation Act (BUrlG). It is 24 working days per year for a six-day week. Under the Act, working days are all calendar days except Sundays and public holidays, so Saturdays are included. Converted to a five-day week, this leaves 20 days of paid vacation.
Many employment contracts and collective agreements provide more leave than this minimum. Between 25 and 32 days for a five-day week is common. A collective agreement or works agreement may increase the statutory minimum vacation but can never reduce it.
The statutory minimum vacation depends directly on your weekly working days:
| Working days per week | Statutory minimum vacation |
|---|---|
| 6 days | 24 days |
| 5 days | 20 days |
| 4 days | 16 days |
| 3 days | 12 days |
| 2 days | 8 days |
| 1 day | 4 days |
You can find the complete legislation in the Federal Vacation Act on the official portal of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Justice.
How much vacation am I entitled to when working part-time or a four-day week?
For part-time work, your vacation entitlement is based on the number of days you work each week. If you work four days instead of five, you receive four fifths of the full-time entitlement. The number of hours worked each day does not affect the number of vacation days.
For your exact entitlement, use our free vacation calculator. The official German guide also explains vacation entitlement for part-time employees (in German).
How much vacation am I entitled to after termination or a change of job?
After termination, your vacation entitlement depends on the leaving date and whether you have completed the six-month waiting period. Before the waiting period has been completed, or if you leave in the first half of the year after completing it, one twelfth of the statutory annual vacation accrues for each full month. This one-twelfth rule follows from Section 5 BUrlG.
If you cannot take outstanding vacation before leaving, the employer pays compensation in lieu of vacation. If you leave in the second half of the year after completing the waiting period, you are entitled to the full statutory minimum vacation; different rules may apply to additional contractual leave. The German rules on timing and compensation appear in Section 7 BUrlG (in German).
What applies to vacation entitlement for mini-jobs, illness and parental leave?
Employees in mini-jobs, employees who are ill, and employees on parental leave do not lose their statutory vacation entitlement solely because of that status. Mini-job employees receive vacation in proportion to their weekly working days. In cases of long-term illness, statutory vacation can generally expire 15 months after the end of the vacation year. If you still worked during the year in which the illness began, the employer’s notice and request duties also apply to the vacation accrued up to that point. During parental leave, the employer may reduce the vacation entitlement.
- Mini-job: Your entitlement is calculated like that of any part-time employee, based on the days you work each week. The official Minijob-Zentrale guide explains vacation entitlement in a mini-job (in German).
- Illness: If you become ill while on vacation, days supported by a medical certificate do not count as vacation and are credited back to your allowance. This is set out in Section 9 BUrlG (in German).
- Parental leave: The employer may reduce your annual vacation by one twelfth for every full month of parental leave. This does not apply if you work part-time for the same employer during parental leave. The reduction is governed by Section 17 of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act.
Where do the most common disputes about vacation entitlement arise?
Most disputes about vacation entitlement involve rounding fractions, expired remaining leave, and rejected vacation requests. If the calculation of statutory partial leave under Section 5 BUrlG produces a fraction of at least half a day, it is rounded up to a full vacation day. Smaller fractions remain in place.
Remaining vacation no longer expires automatically at the end of the year. Your employer must ask you in good time to take your vacation and warn you that it may expire. If the employer fails to provide this notice, your entitlement remains beyond the end of the year.
Keep vacation entitlements clearly in view
Manage allowances, remaining leave and approvals centrally in Microsoft 365.
How do I manage vacation entitlement in Microsoft 365?
When managing vacation for colleagues and teams, you need to keep track of many factors to handle each person correctly: start date, working days per week, vacation entitlement, days already taken, and more.
To calculate these values according to the rules configured for your company, you can manage the entire vacation process with absentify. Defining those rules in line with the law remains your company’s responsibility.
In absentify, every employee can see their own vacation entitlement and the remaining leave for the current year. The values are calculated using the configured allowance rules and master data. Approved vacation days are automatically deducted from the allowance.
- Model part-time work, illness and parental leave through work schedules, absence types and suitable allowance settings.
- Everyone can see their current remaining vacation in their personal calendar at any time, without calculating it themselves.
- Vacation requests and approvals take place directly in Microsoft Teams or Outlook.
- You continue to use your existing Microsoft 365 accounts and do not need another program.
Want to simplify how you manage vacation entitlements?
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Vacation entitlement – frequently asked questions
About the author
Anna Keller
Content manager at absentify
As a blog author at absentify, Anna Keller explains how companies can efficiently manage absences, vacations, and working hours. In her articles, she combines HR practice with Microsoft 365 tips for Outlook and Teams and provides templates, step-by-step instructions, and software comparisons for modern, digital processes.
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