Leftover holidays for 2025? The do’s and don’ts in a nutshell
The end of the year is approaching: colleagues are making arrangements for the holidays between Christmas and the New Year and a few forward-looking souls are already dreaming about their holiday destination for the summer of 2025. On the other hand, the workaholics don’t have time for time off… Let’s look into some frequently asked questions about holidays.
Accrual of taking annual leave. What are the basic rules?
According to the Belgian legislation on holidays, an employee accrues holiday rights based on her/his professional performance in the preceding calendar year. The calendar year during which the employee takes her/his holidays is referred to as the holiday year. The preceding calendar year, during which the entitlement is accrued, is referred to as the holiday reference year.
The same rules determine that an employee needs to take her/his legal holidays before the end of the holiday year. In other words, the employee is obliged to take all her/his legal holiday accrued in 2023, by 31 December 2024.
My employee asks if (s)he can carry over holidays to the next year. Is that allowed?
The law states that carrying over leave is not allowed and that an employee who does not take all of her/his holidays consequently loses the non-taken days. A white-collar worker can therefore not ask her/his employer to pay these days.
For blue-collar workers the rules are different: they receive their holiday pay directly from the National Holiday Fund and the holiday pay remains acquired, whether or not they take all their holidays.
Please note that in practice, a lot of Belgian companies allow for a limited number of legal holidays to be carried over at the employee’s request which then have to be taken within a limited timeframe.
As from holiday year 2024, statutory holidays can actually be carried over in a limited number of cases.
How does the new system of carrying over holidays in cases of long-term suspension and the inability to take legal holidays?
If an employee is unable to take holidays by 31 December 2024 due to a long-term absence because of an (occupational) accident or illness, incapacity for work, maternity leave, paternity leave, prophylactic leave, adoption leave, foster care leave or a foster parent leave, the employee must be able to carry over these days.
- ! It must be a case of force majeure, where the employee cannot possibly still take his holidays in 2024. For example, it does not include the case where, towards the end of the year, the employer refuses to let an employee, who was sick for six months during the year, still take his holidays. However, if an employee is ill from, for example, 3 November 2024 to 17 January 2025, he is unable to still take his legal holidays in 2024.
In these cases of suspension, the untaken holidays must be granted within the 24 months following the end of the holiday year.
Holiday pay for days not taken is paid to white-collar workers by 31 December of the relevant holiday year. Blue-collar workers retain their holiday pay through the holiday fund.
What are the possible consequences for me as an employer if not all the holidays are taken?
As an employer, you have the obligation to ensure that your employees take their holidays. Not meeting that legal obligation can be sanctioned with an administrative and even a criminal fine.
In practice, you need to make sure to inform your employees sufficiently about the fact that they need to take their outstanding holidays. If your employee, notwithstanding your efforts to warn her/him, decides not to take the days (s)he is entitled to, you will not risk any of the aforementioned sanctions.
My company grants the employees extra-legal holidays on top of their legal holidays. What does the law state with regard to those days?
The Belgian legislation does not provide for a legal framework when it comes to extra-legal holidays. The practical consequence is that you as an employer can determine the playing field and can consequently state that extra-legal holidays can be carried over. We recommend to determine the rules in the working regulations of the company.
New since 2024: final settlement deduction of holiday certificate in December for new white-collar employees
As explained in our newsletter, the procedure for deducting single holiday pay for new white-collar workers has been changed in 2024. From 2024, this deduction happens in two phases:
- During the year: each time a white-collar worker takes a holiday accrued with his previous employer, with his new employer, the white-collar worker will receive his normal fixed salary, but with a deduction of 90% of the fixed salary for the holidays taken during that month.
- December: final settlement of single holiday pay, taking into account the amounts of single holiday pay mentioned on the holiday certificate, minus the amounts already deducted during the year.
The result of this final settlement may be a refund or an additional deduction. This will be clear in the December pay slip.
How can I keep an overview of the outstanding holidays of my employees?
If your HR department does not have an own calendar to keep track of the holiday entitlement of the employees, Pro-Pay can assist with a practical tool. Your Easy Absence Planner (YEAP) can assist you in the management of all types of absences, including all sorts of leave. It is of the greatest importance to report all the absences of your employees in view of your legal obligations as an employer and the entitlement of the employee to certain social benefits.
With YEAP, the management and tracking of the holiday counters of your employees is really straightforward.
Action!
- Provide your employees with an overview of their outstanding legal holidays.
- Remind them of the rules regarding taking and carrying over holidays.
- If this has not yet been dealt with: determine the rules regarding taking and carrying over extra-legal holidays, preferably in the working regulations.
