In addition to the right to annual leave, employees also have the right to be off on public holidays and bank holidays in many cases, the right to leave of absence for personal matters, and in some cases, the right to compensatory leave. In this article, we will go through the most important points to keep in mind - both for you as an employee and for employers.
According to the Public Holidays Act (1989:253), certain days are specified as public holidays, often referred to as red days. These days include New Year's Day and National Day. Normally, these days are non-working days, which means that you are entitled to time off with your regular pay if you have a monthly salary. This also applies to certain holidays such as Midsummer's Eve, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. If you work in a business that needs to operate on public holidays, you may not be exempt from work, but you usually receive compensation for working at irregular hours. How public holidays are handled, whether they are non-working days or compensated with extra pay, is not regulated in the Working Hours Act but is determined through an agreement between you and your employer, or according to a collective agreement.
Compensation leave means that if you have worked overtime, you can choose to take time off instead of receiving monetary compensation. When calculating working hours, compensation leave is considered as normal working hours. This is regulated in your employment contract or collective agreement.
A leave of absence means that you are granted time off from work without pay. According to the Study Leave Act, you have the right to a leave of absence for studies. Your employer can also grant a leave of absence for other reasons, such as trying out another job. There is no obligation for the employer to grant a leave of absence to try out another job, but the employer must grant it if you want to start your own business. You must have been employed for at least six months and can take a leave of absence for up to six months.
You also have the right to a leave of absence for the care of close relatives according to the Act on Leave for the Care of Close Relatives, with a right to 100 days of leave. There is also a statutory right to a leave of absence due to urgent family reasons, such as illness or accidents within the family. In addition, your employer must grant a leave of absence for you to fulfill political assignments or for certain services in the total defense, such as military service. In addition to these statutory rights, your employer can grant a leave of absence in other situations, such as for a longer vacation trip. However, the employer is not obligated to grant such leave of absence but may do so according to an agreement between you and the employer.
The Public Holidays Act (1989:253) specifies which days are public holidays, often referred to as red days, such as New Year's Day and National Day. These days are often non-working days, which means that employees are entitled to time off with their regular pay if they have a monthly salary. This also applies to certain holidays such as Midsummer's Eve, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. In businesses that need to operate on public holidays, employees are usually compensated with extra pay for working at irregular hours instead of being given time off.
How public holidays are handled, whether they are non-working days or compensated with extra pay, is not regulated in the Working Hours Act but is determined through an agreement between you and your employees, or in your applicable collective agreement. Therefore, there is no statutory right for employees to be given time off.
Compensation leave means that if an employee has worked overtime, they can choose to take time off instead of receiving monetary compensation. When calculating working hours, compensation leave is considered as normal working hours. How compensation leave works is regulated in the employment contract or collective agreement, and there is no specific statutory provision for it.
A leave of absence means that an employee is granted time off from work without pay. According to the Study Leave Act, employees have the right to a leave of absence for studies. There is no obligation for you as an employer to grant a leave of absence for an employee to try out another job, but you must grant it if the employee wants to start their own business. The employee must have been employed for at least six months and can take a leave of absence for up to six months.
Employees also have the right to a leave of absence for the care of close relatives according to the Act on Leave for the Care of Close Relatives, with a right to 100 days of leave. Employees also have the right to a leave of absence due to urgent family reasons, such as illness or accidents within the family. In addition, you must grant a leave of absence for the employee to fulfill political assignments or for certain services in the total defense, such as military service. In addition to these statutory rights, you can grant a leave of absence in other situations, such as for a longer vacation trip. However, you are not obligated to grant such leave of absence but can do so according to an agreement between you and the employee. Once a leave of absence has been granted, the employee has no right to terminate the leave of absence prematurely.
