Vacation days no longer expire automatically

Vacation days not taken no longer expire automatically. This was decided by the Federal Labor Court in a landmark judgment. In the future, employers in particular will have an increased obligation to inform their employees in good time that they are still entitled to vacation days.

Due to her high workload, a tax clerk from North Rhine-Westphalia has accumulated 101 unused vacation days over the years. However, after her employment ended, her employer only paid out compensation for 14 vacation days. The victim therefore filed a lawsuit.

It is now clear: the holiday entitlement is not time-barred. This was shared by the Federal Labor Court in one official statement with. Because after the labor court initially dismissed an initial complaint by the tax clerk, the regional labor court agreed and awarded her compensation for the full 101 vacation days.

Holiday entitlement: Holiday days not taken no longer automatically become statute-barred

The Federal Labor Court has now confirmed this judgment and thus decided that vacation days not taken no longer automatically become statute-barred after three years. This fundamental judgment is likely to have significant implications for numerous employees in Germany who are currently legally arguing about their vacation entitlements.

While the judgment significantly strengthens the rights of employees, it makes employers more responsible. According to the court, employers will in future be subject to a certain information obligation. This means that they have to inform their employees in good time to take their vacation.

Vacation: Duty to provide information is implementation of European law

This information obligation also applies if employees fall ill for a longer period of time. The Federal Labor Court thus agreed with a second plaintiff who, for health reasons, was only able to take part of her annual leave.

So far, meanwhile, vacation days in the event of a long-term illness expire 15 months after the end of the corresponding vacation year. If vacation days were not taken for other reasons, the entitlement previously lapsed after three years. Employers have actually been obliged to inform their employees about their holiday entitlement since 2019.

At that time, however, the court left open what applies in the event of an impending statute of limitations and illness. With the current landmark judgment, the Federal Labor Court is now in turn implementing the decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) from September 2022.

The ECJ ruled that employers must actively point out a possible statute of limitations and must not watch as holiday entitlements expire.

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