Accrual and number of holiday days
Holiday days are accrued by working during the holiday credit year between 1 April and 31 March. Annual holiday is accrued for each full holiday credit month. Read more about full holiday credit months (in Finnish) and the accrual of holiday days in the Tehy working life guidebook.
A right to full holiday in accordance with the Annual Holidays Act is realised if an employee has accrued four weeks of summer holiday and one week of winter holiday. However, better terms for holiday are laid down in several collective agreements, so a ‘full’ holiday may be longer than these periods.
Employees can check their accrual in their payslips, which typically have an entry about accrued days of holiday. The employer also has the obligation to keep track of their employees’ annual holidays. If necessary, you can contact the union representative of your workplace to discuss your holidays.
Determining the dates of a holiday
Before any holiday is granted, the employer must report the workplace’s general policy for granting annual holiday to the employees or their representatives. The general policy states, for example, whether the holidays are granted for all employees at the same time or consecutively. It is not required to give the report on an annual basis, but notification must be given of any changes to the policy.
Although the employees do not have a definitive entitlement to determine the dates of their holidays, the employer must provide the employees with an opportunity to present their proposals for the dates. There are no legal provisions on how the proposals of employees must be heard. However, in order to fulfil the legal obligation to provide employees with an opportunity to present their proposals, the hearing must be arranged in a way that makes it possible that the proposals can have an actual effect on the dates of the holiday.
The hearing of employees’ proposals must be distinguished from how the employer should consider the proposals. According to the legislation, the employer must consider the employees’ proposals insofar as possible. How the proposals of employees can be considered is determined on a case-by-case basis.
In any case, the employer must be fair when granting the holidays. The requirement of fairness can affect, for example, how the holidays of employees are granted during summer months or weeks with public holidays. The employer’s holiday granting right is also limited by the fact that annual holiday cannot be granted during a sick leave or the first 105 days of pregnancy or parental leave without the employee’s consent (in Finnish).
With regard to the timing of holidays, note that determining the dates of the holiday is within the employer’s management right and the employer determines the dates based on the employer’s needs.
Verification of holidays
The employer must verify the dates of a holiday at least a month before the beginning of the holiday. If it is not possible to comply with the requirement of a month’s notice period, the employer must provide the employee with information about the holiday as soon as possible.
The one month notice period is a general rule and deviating from it is only possible if there is a reasonable cause. The definitive minimum notice period is two weeks before the beginning of the holiday. The statutory notice period only applies to situations in which the employer determines the dates of the holiday. If the parties agree on the dates together, a separate notice period is not applied.
There are no legal provisions on how a notice on verified holidays must be reported to employees. The notice can be given with a general announcement available to all employees or with a personal notice. If the notice is given as a general announcement, the employer must make sure that absent employees also receive information about the dates of their holidays within the statutory notice period.
The employer’s notice of the dates of a holiday is binding. When an employee has received information about the dates of their holiday, they must be able to rely on this information. It is worth noting that only binding holiday notices are binding. A preliminary proposal about the dates of a holiday is not binding. If there is any lack of clarity about whether the proposed dates are supposed to be verified, the employer should be contacted directly.
When the dates of a holiday have been verified and are binding, the employer has no unilateral right to cancel or postpone the holiday. Regardless of this, the employer and employees can agree on possible changes, but neither party has no obligation to do so. If the employer postpones the holiday unilaterally, the employer may be liable to reimburse the costs incurred by the employee due to the cancellation of the holiday.
If you have any questions about annual holidays, check the provisions of the Annual Holidays Act and the collective agreement applied at your workplace. You can also discuss the matter with the union representative of your workplace. If necessary, contact the Tehy e-services.