Employment Contract Law (No. 390/1976 as amended)
Employees have a minimum period of paid annual vacations depending on seniority. They are:
- 14 calendar days for employment for less than five years.
- 21 calendar days for employment between five and 10 years.
- 28 calendar days for employment between 10 and 20 years
- 35 calendar days for employment for more than 20 years
- The length of the vacation which an employee is entitled to based on seniority is the one that the employee would have as of 31st December of the year to which it corresponds.
An employee is required to work at least half of the working days of the calendar year to earn their full annual leave entitlement. For this purpose, the holidays on which the employees should normally provide services will be counted as business days.
The holiday shall begin on Monday or the next business day if that is a holiday. In the case of employees who work on non-working days, annual vacation shall begin on the following day or the subsequent business day if that is a holiday. For this purpose, an employee does not require minimum seniority.
The vacation must be taken between October 1 and April 30 of the following year, with the employee receiving a 45-day prior written notice for the vacation period. The employer and employee may agree that leave is taken in several shorter blocks at any time of year. Employees who have not completed 6 months of service get one day off for every 20 days worked.
Carry Over
By agreement, an employee may carry over up to 1/3rd of the annual leave entitlement from one calendar year to the next. Any unused leave in excess of this is forfeited at the end of the year.
Vacation Pay
The employee will receive compensation during the holiday period, which will be determined as follows:
- In the case of paid work with a monthly salary, dividing by twenty-five (25) the amount of the salary received at the time of its granting.
- If the remuneration has been set per day or per hour for each day of vacation, the amount an employee is entitled to receive on the day prior to the date on which the vacation begins will be paid to an employee.
- In the case of piecework, individual or collective commissions, percentages, or other variable forms, according to the average of the salaries accrued during the year that corresponds to the granting of vacations or, at the option of the employee, during the last six (6) months of service provision.
- An employee shall be paid vacation pay at the beginning of the annual vacation.
Termination of Employment
An employee whose employment is terminated is entitled to compensation equal to the vacation pay in proportion to the days effectively worked, for the year in which the termination took place.