The days of annual holiday accrued between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 are spent during the summer holiday season of 2024. According to the Annual Holidays Act, four weeks of the accrued annual holiday days should be granted during the summer holiday season between 2 May and 30 September. Any additional holiday days (winter holiday) should be granted by the beginning of the next holiday season, i.e. by the end of April the following year.
Employers in the public sector must grant 20 days of annual holiday or at least 65% of the total amount of accrued holiday days during the holiday season (summer holiday). The employer must grant any accrued days of holiday exceeding 20 days as winter holiday. If there are 25–38 days of accrued holiday, at least five of these must be granted as winter holiday.
Depending on the collective agreement, either five or six holiday days are spent each week. Read more about how holiday days are spent in the Tehy working life guidebook (in Finnish). The collective agreement may also have a separate clause that states that the Saturday and Sunday following a holiday lasting from Monday to Friday or Saturday are considered days off.
Holidays cannot be split randomly
As the purpose of annual holiday is that employees have the chance to recover from work, the holidays must be granted as consecutive days, in principle. The employer can unilaterally split the holidays into shorter periods only in exceptional circumstances. For this to be possible, splitting holidays (with regard to periods exceeding two weeks) must be necessary in order to keep the workplace operational. The collective agreement may include an application guide that such an exceptional need to split holidays must be explained and justified to the union representative and each employee.
Some of Tehy’s collective agreement also state that employees can extend their holidays (in Finnish) if they are held outside the summer holiday season.
If granting a holiday in the summer holiday season in seasonal work causes substantial challenges to the employer’s operations, the holiday can be granted outside the summer holiday season during the same calendar year. In this case, the employer must grant the employee a summer holiday, for example, the summer holiday for 2024, by 31 December 2024.
Holiday days can be split and scheduled upon agreement
A separate agreement can be made on during what period the holiday will take place and whether the holiday days are spent consecutively or in more than one period. Agreeing on this matter means that neither party has the unconditional right or obligation to agree on holidays by way of derogation from the legislation and the collective agreement. The employer must provide employees with an account of how holidays and carrying them over can be agreed on at the workplace in the general policy on holidays.
Splitting and dividing the holiday days is limited by the fact that employees must have at least a two weeks of consecutive holiday every year.
The parties can agree that the holiday takes place during a period that begins at the beginning of the same calendar year the holiday season takes place in and ends the following year, before the beginning of the holiday season.
Example: With regard to the 2024 holiday, this period is between 2 January 2024 and 30 April 2025. A period that begins before January 2024 cannot be agreed on.
The parties can agree that the part of holiday that exceeds two weeks can be held within a year of the end of the holiday season.
Example: With regard to the 2024 holiday, this part of holiday exceeding two weeks can be agreed to be taken by 30 September 2025.
In addition to the above, holiday days can be carried over. Read more about carried-over holidays (in Finnish) in the Tehy working life guidebook.
The right to a holiday expires in two years
Any agreements on holidays should be made in writing as the right to a holiday expires in two years from the end of the calendar year during which the holiday should have been granted originally.
Example: The accrued summer holiday days for 2024 expire on 31 December 2026.
As the annual holiday is not only the right of the employee, but also an obligation of the employer, spending annual holiday days should not depend on the employee’s willingness or activity. The employer must ensure that all employees have their annual holiday and remind them if any annual holiday days are about to expire. Employees who use their right to a holiday are able to recover from work, benefitting the employer as well!
If you have any questions about annual holidays, check the provisions of the Annual Holidays Act and the collective agreement applied at your workplace, discuss the matter with the union representative of your workplace or, if necessary, contact the Tehy e-services.