LEGAL FRAMEWORK: for part-time or full-time employees, vacation leave is allocated as follows:

4 weeks of paid vacation leave per calendar year from the age of 20.

5 weeks of paid vacation leave per calendar year (mandatory until the age of 21 or after the age of 51 and 5 years of service with the same employer, or after 20 years of service).

In accordance with current law, vacation leave must be taken in kind and must not, in principle, be replaced by cash benefits.

THE EMPLOYER’S DUTIES: the employer fixes the vacation date by taking their employee’s wishes into account.

The employer is required to pay their employee the entire wages that they would have received had they worked during the vacation leave.

When the employee is fed and/or lodged, their employer must pay them an allowance by way of compensation of wages in kind, calculated, at a minimum, according to current AVS regulations.

VACATION PAY: when the employee receives monthly wages, their employer pays them these wages 12 months of the year, even during the employee’s vacation leave. The vacations are thus not included in the wages.

When the employee is paid on an hourly basis, the employer can provide for the vacation allowance to be included in the hourly salary. The latter is calculated as follows:

8.33% of gross wages for 4 weeks of holidays
10.64% of gross wages for 5 weeks of holidays

VACATION INCULDED OR NOT IN THE SALARY? : When the employee's salary is on a monthly basis, holidays are paid during the 4 or 5 weeks of vacation. Vacations are not included in the salary but paid.

For hourly contract, vacations not included in the salary means the employer is required to pay the employee during the employee's holidays. A hourly contract with vacations included in the salary means the employer pays the indemnity while working with an additional 8.33% or 10.64 % but not during employee's leave.